King of the Deck
by Ichi-Alice
Summary: Naruto hasn't had the chance see what he could do. Underneath the idiot is a pool of potenial for a shinobi the world has never seen. He's left and opened his eyes to the possibilies. He's gained and lost. So where will his cards of fortune take him?
1. Chapter 1

King of the Deck: Chapter One

It was a dark night, no moon in the sky, as footsteps echoed down an alleyway down the rougher streets of town, solitary and alone. The soles of worn stained sandals slapped against the red dusty earth as sniffles where muffled and tears fell, leaving round tracks in the ground. He didn't understand why he was crying. What had happened wasn't that unusual, happened on a daily basis, but today the pain throbbed in his chest like an old wound. He bit his lip to stop from crying as he wiped his runny nose and tearing eyes with slightly grimy fists, smearing some dirt on his unusual scars.

_-Flashback-_

_Uzumaki Naruto was in a good mood today as he walked confidently down the road to the Academy, for once cheerfully ignoring the slight glares and whispers that followed him around like a plague daily. _

_The sun was shining, the sky was blue, he'd managed to find the last cup of noodles for a decent breakfast this morning, and today was the day he was surely going to pass the exams. Sure he'd taken them once last year, only a few months after joining at age 6 but the first disastrous attempt could only be because he hadn't learned all the skills yet. _

_Now he was all ready…well studying the night before could have been useful…maybe actually practicing the clone jutsu would have been nice, but no matter, he was Uzumaki Naruto! He'd kick this test's ass to hell and when everyone realized that he graduated above everyone else and become Hokage, everyone would totally respect him and Sakura would just have to go out with him for some ramen. On that cheerful note, with a dopey grin, the blonde walked a little faster, a little more of a bounce to his step._

_-Afterwards-_

_His bright sunshine smile had faded now, to a annoyed and disappointed scowl as the teacher, Uruchi? Usumi? Utane? Whatever, announced quite happily with an extra edge to his voice, _

"_Uzumaki Naruto, that was the most abysmal performance I've ever seen in all my days here at the Academy. I have no idea why I wasted my time for some ninja-wanna-be who can't spell shuriken correctly, let alone graduate to be a genin at age 7. Please do yourself a favor and come back when you actually have the brains." _

_His eyebrows furrowed together as he angrily kicked at the poor innocent rock that had been in his way. Like he cared what that old asshole thought. One day, when he was Hokage, he'd be sure to demote Urumi-no-baka back to a genin. No, he corrected himself with a malicious grin, an Academy student. Oh he'd need a bag of popcorn to eat when he'd announced that to that know-it-all pompous jerk! _

_Grinning at the thought, his deep blue eyes caught sight of something that made his unpleasant thoughts disappear in an instant. Bright pink hair glimmered in the setting sunlight with grass-green eyes sparkling as his dear Sakura-chan talked to one of her friends next to her. He sighed and contented himself with merely staring at her pretty face. Sure her forehead was a bit on the large side, but Naruto couldn't help but love it anyway. It was Sakura-chan, the smartest, prettiest, and sweetest girl in the whole Academy. How couldn't he?_

_As her friends started to leave, Naruto decided that today was the day. He might have failed the genin test twice, but if he could go out with Sakura-chan on one single date, he'd be content. Shuffling awkwardly over, he dared to flash his biggest brightest grin and dust some of the dirt off his bright orange jumpsuit and straightened his green goggles over his startlingly blond uneven hair. One of Sakura-chan's friends, a blonde girl with blue eyes and a purple dress, he really couldn't remember the name right now, stayed behind, but he really couldn't care. It was his chance! She wouldn't spoil the romantic mood! Taking a deep breath of courage, Naruto dove in,_

"_Um, Hi Sakura-chan," he said as cheerfully, and unfortunately loudly, as he could._

_His resolve dimmed a little as her pretty green eyes narrowed as soon as she saw him and wrinkled appeared on her large but beautiful forehead, but he continued,_

"_Um, Sakura-chan? You know, you're the prettiest girl in the Academy and um, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for ramen today with me." He finished, mentally applauding himself for sounding so suave and romantic. Sakura-chan would HAVE to go on a date with him now._

"_Ooo, Forehead-girl! The idiot dead-last wants to have a date with you," sneered the blonde girl, her blue eyes taunting Naruto with childish malice, "Guess cause you got an idiot for a boyfriend, I can have Sasuke-kun all to myself."_

"_Shut-up Ino-pig!" retorted Sakura, her pretty face screwed up into a picture of annoyance as she jabbed a hard finger into his chest, "Listen here Naruto! You've been asking for these dumb dates since we were six and how many times do I have to spell it out for you? You're an idiot who can't even make a bunshin! Why would I want some dumb dead-last when I can have Sasuke-kun, who so much more handsome and smarter than you?"_

"_But…but Sakura-chan…I mean, Sasuke's just a pretty-boy show off who comes from a big-shot clan. He doesn't do anything except brood like an emo in class. You can't really like him, can you?"_

_Sakura's eyes narrowed even more as she finally smacked him over the head. _

"_Oowwww!!!" shouted Naruto as he rubbed the sore part of his skull, gazing at Sakura with hurt eyes._

"_Don't say anything bad about Sasuke-kun! He's ten times better than you'll ever be! I'm never gonna date a loser like you so get over it you idiot!"_

_Sniffing, she turned her back sharply, her bright pink hair he'd admired so much slapping him in the face as the love of his life strode off, her friend teasing her mercilessly about how she always got the morons._

_He'd been rejected before, but today, of all days, Naruto felt the odd clenching of his heart grow even sharper. It only grew worse as he looked up to see the Uchiha himself, gazing at him with blank black eyes. Giving him a haughty look, the pale boy stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned his back on him, the red and white fan glaring proudly from the back of his shirt. _

_Without knowing why, Naruto lost it as the first warm salty tear made its way down his face. Still rubbing the sore spot on his sunshine-yellow head, Naruto started to cry._

_-End Flashback-_

Pouty lips trembled as he tried as best as he could to withhold the racking sobs that just tumbled out. What the hell was wrong with him? He'd been rejected before. He'd failed the genin test before. He'd been ignored and humiliated before. So why was he crying? Without watching where he was going, he accidently bumped into a man, falling down and scraping his knees. Ignoring the sharp pain, he turned and was greeted with a grimy looking man with foul smelling breath, unfocused crazy eyes staring right at him.

"Oh," he snarled, "so the little demon-brat thinks he can strut down the street doing whatever he wants, can he?"

Naruto stared back with a confused look on his dirt-streaked face. Demon-brat? He'd been called that so many times before; he'd heard the whispers of shop-keepers and parents, but he'd never understood the meaning. Demon? He wasn't a demon.

"Aah, Mister, I'm sorry," stuttered Naruto rubbing his forehead and inspecting his cut knees when he was abrupt grabbed by the front of his T-shirt.

"You think this is funny demon? You think that you can walk down these streets like you own this village just because our fool of a Hokage is too lenient toward a foul thing like you?" yelled the man, his breath reeking of what Naruto now recognized as alcohol. Naruto shook his head frantically, tugging at the man's steel like fingers until he suddenly felt a heavy blow on the side of his head. Blackness tinging the edge of his vision, Naruto was suddenly very aware of the warm liquid dripping down the side of his head.

He could smell the metallic tinge coupling with a small of alcohol, and the pain so intense he stopped struggling. It wasn't until he could see the bright crimson liquid dripping onto the man's arm when he started to scream.

=LINE BREAK=

Kuabara Takashiro had a small self-satisfied smile as the demon-brat began to scream, its blue eyes fixated on the sight of its own blood. However, the satisfaction faded and left him only with a longing to inflict more pain on the thing that had ruined his life, the abomination that had taken his wife, his two children, his brother, and his mother away from him, leaving him in the pathetic state he was in now.

The Kyuubi had also crushed his home, leaving him to support himself meagerly and in an almost state of ruin. He'd taken the drinking himself into oblivion, to forget his sorrow, and had been forcing himself home from the bar again, but low and behold, Fate had smiled upon him. "_But now," _he thought, shaking himself out of his musing, "_It's time for revenge."_ Dragging the squirming screaming creature into a darker alley, Takashiro allowed himself to gloat a little. He was the first one to actually lay a blow on the demon the resided in Konoha, all the others had been detained by the Hokage, who'd been deceived by the human guise that it had donned to fool some poor citizens on Konoha.

But as it had grown, Takashiro knew that there were no more guards surrounding it, and today, when there were barely any people about, was the time to strike. He grew tired of the demon's screaming and gave it another sharp punch in the mouth. Its wound on its head, courtesy of the sake bottle he'd planned to consume at home, was still freely flowing droplets of its filthy blood onto his arm as was the new one on its lip.

Dropping it onto the floor, Takashiro kicked and punched at the demon for all he was worth, his blood singing with adrenaline, revenge was sweet.

=LINE BREAK=

Naruto couldn't open his eyes, he couldn't breathe as he continued to sob and scream. The rain of punches and kicks on his body made him nearly chock on his own screams. The pain was incredible as the blackness that had tinged his sight now threatened to overtake him. His shouts did nothing to stop this man as he only paused to call him more names.

Demon. Murderer. Killer. Fox. Kyuubi.

He didn't understand what was going on, why this was happening, only that he'd never felt such an intense pain before. The blows on his body suddenly felt distant, like stinging aching wounds as the darkness finally over took him, his vision blurring and fading until, right before he blacked out, he caught sight of something.

Something red, huge, and bright against the darkness.

A…fox?

=LINE BREAK=

Takashiro was having the time of his life as the sick satisfaction of getting his revenge made him grin madly in delight. Of course the demon had gone quiet after about a minute, so it wasn't as amusing as he finally stopped. Kicking the body a last time for good measure, Takashiro turned, intent on celebrating at home for his accomplishment, when a nerve-wrenching gravelly voice rumbled behind him, "Did you have fun, _human_?"

Turning around slowly, Takashiro stared in horror as the body of the demon, still bruised and bleeding profusely rose slowly, malicious red energy surrounding it as blood red eyes gazed at him. He couldn't move. The red eyes were those of an animal, the pupils shaped into slits and hungry for the exact revenge he'd taken. As the demon took a step forward, still dripping droplets of blood, Taka scrabbled backward, his face white as a sheet.

The demon smirked, morphing the child face it used as a mask into a crazy grin. Raising a hand, its fingernails grew and sharpened into claws, claws of a beast that suddenly slashed down. Takashiro closed his eyes, his body refusing to move in fear, but the blow never came. Instead he heard a sharp thud as something fell to the ground. Hesitantly opening his eyes, he saw the body of the demon on the ground, all traces of the weird red energy gone and slumped over as if in death, and a hooded man standing over its body.

Sighing in relief that he wasn't going to die tonight, Takashiro opened his mouth to thank the man but suddenly fell into darkness at the sharp prick at the back of his neck, his closing eyes still looking at the hooded man over the body of the demon.

=LINE BREAK=

-Hokage's Office

"And you're sure there were no witnesses to this?" asked the Hokage sternly as he gazed upward to the man in front of him. His face was obscured by the long, large, forest green clock, but the good height and sturdy stature only confirmed the thought that this man was not one who'd tolerate bullshit.

"A boy is nearly beaten to death and only just manages to fight off his attacker and all you're worried about is anyone saw this?" asked the hooded figure in disgusted disbelief. His voice was hoarse and rather gravely, sharp like little stones pelting against glass or as if he had a horrible sore throat. The Hokage's lined face twitched at the accusation as he stared back with slow smoldering brown eyes.

"You know very well that Naruto's slight peace will be jeopardized if anyone saw even a clue that Kyuubi had taken over. Do not ever accusing me of not caring for the boy."

"And yet," interrupted the hooded figure, his voice slightly mocking now, still as rough as stone, "You claim his small peace is living in a shoddy dump of an apartment with meager electricity and heat, eating the bare minimum of a boy his age, being humiliated by his teachers and peers, and getting attacked in alleyways? Or has Konoha changed since I've left it, _Hokage-sama?_"

Sarutobi's eyebrow twitched at the mocking lecture, but he made no move to defend himself against the accusations. He did the best he could with Naruto, but his influence could only go so far.

Showing blatant favoritism to the village scapegoat could very well jeopardize the fragile peace he had with his former teammates and present advisors as well as the rest of the council. Disrupting this peace would only make life for Naruto harder.

"Naruto is a strong boy," retorted Sarutobi, "He's just like his father. Since the villagers are forbidden by law to mention the Kyuubi, I can only hope that Naruto can have some semblance of a normal life. Not everyone has to run from their problems like you."

His oak desk shook as a black gloved fist smashed into it and the hooded figure growled.

"That boy, no matter who is goddamn father is, is a seven year old child Sarutobi-sama. That blonde baka had a easy life compared to his son, so your comparison in strength is meaningless. And you're stupid law withholding the Kyuubi will only cause him to wonder why everyone hates his guts until it rears up and bites his head off. Do you think you're boy strong enough to handle that information at once, perhaps when his life is on the line?"

Sarutobi opened his motuh to answer but was swiftly cut off again.

"He'll snap. And when he does, you sure as goddamn well now that that's when Kyuubi will take its chance and take over. You're leading him to the slaughter. And all because you wanted him live in Konoha and truly be _Minato's son._"

The last two words were bitten off with a sour note, making Sarutobi smile bitterly. The grudge still held, even after a good 30 years. In front of him was a shining example of the fruit of favoritism among teammates. All because of his mistakes and those who made the same because of him.

Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose in weariness. There had been too many in his lifetimes, mistakes that had gotten people killed, scarred them for life, or just default into enemy hands. Perhaps, it was time to finally go against Minato's request.

The silence between the two was broken abruptly as a slow shy knocking sounded. The door opened to reveal a doctor, female and middle-aged, leading in a small boy with only a few bandages around his sunshine yellow hair.

"Ah yes, Yamada Mitsuru, may I ask why you and young Naruto are here?" asked the Hokage in the most pleasant voice he could muster at the current time, his amber eyes gazing at the doctor and winking slightly to the whiskered boy.

"Hokage-sama, I must admit that this has never been seen before in my career," answered Mitsuru, her voice full of astonishment, but no resentment as she looked over the file in her hand,

"Only moments after Naruto-kun was brought to the hospital, his cuts started to heal immediately with almost no scarring. His bruises receded after a few hours and his bones realigned themselves and actually sewed right up like magic. The only thing that still needs treatment is the largest wound on the side of his head, which might leave some scarring, but left no brain damage. Naruto-kun complains of headaches and soreness, but all in all his body is all healed. I can only prescribe that he eat more…he's rather underweight for his age."

The Hokage again sighed as the hooded man grunted in small satisfaction. It was true that though Naruto was golden tanned and chubby-cheeked, his body under the baggy orange monstrosity was bird thin and looked brittle enough to break. He was also shorter than those of his own age and his energy could only be credited to his hyperactive enthusiasm, which left him rather exhausted afterwards.

"Thank you Mitsuru-san, you may leave. Naruto-kun, would you mind staying here with me for a few minutes?" asked the Hokage as he looked up again, his mind now ready for another bout of stress.

Naruto nodded, wincing slightly at the movement of his head, and sat down on one of the wooden chairs, gazing warily at the stranger in the corner while the doctor bowed and left, closing the door with a soft click.

"I really can't help but say I told you so," said the hooded figure, breaking the silence, "but I told you so."

Sarutobi ignored the childish outburst from the hooded man and gave Naruto a kind smile, widening it after the boy relaxed, gingerly prodding the wound on the side of his head, still giving the other man short glances.

"Naruto-kun, I've heard from Yamada-san that your wounds are healing up just fine, but are you ok?" asked Sarutobi, his brown eyes searching the boy, painfully noticing the bones on his wrist and collar jabbing out in sharp angles.

Naruto started, but hesitated, as if scared, but eventully summed up his resolve and responded in a much more subdued version of his usual cheery yell,

"Yea Old Man, I'm great 'cept my head's still hurts a little bit. But, um, I kinda gotta question that I wanted to ask you…"

He against glanced at the hooded stranger shortly with bright blue eyes, but decided to continue again.

"Well…see when that guy was beating me up and stuff, he called me all these names like demon-brat and fox. I know I kinda do stuff to people with my pranks, but I mean, I don't think I'm anything like a fox…so I was wondering if you knew anything Old Man?"

The Hokage stiffened and flinched out of reflex at the names Naruto had been called. Of course he'd be confused, he'd probably never been called those things in his life until now. He cursed the drunkard in his mind, but took slight pleasure at the fact that Ibiki was taking his sweet time with the man.

How was he supposed to get over this hurdle without telling the boy staring at him with hopeful blue eyes.

The hooded man gave a sarcastic snort, jumping the elder man out of his thoughts and replied,

"He called you those things because he's a moron who can't see past what happened a long time ago."

Ignoring the Hokage's sharp cutting stare, Naruto cocked his head in confusion. He'd never seen this man before in Konoha. Granted, disliked as he was, he had a hobby of spying on people, pretending to be a super-cool ninja. And he was a hundred percent sure he'd never seen this sneaky looking guy anywhere.

"Wha…?" started Naruto but the Sandaime abruptly cut him off, "No, Naruto, he means absolutely nothing."

"Oh yea, it means absolutely nothing that he doesn't know the reason why everyone in the village frickin hates his guts, yea no big deal," snorted the hooded figure, crossing his arms over his chest in a confident position.

"You have no right to tell him…."

"I have EVERY right to tell him, you're the one who's been keeping him caged up here."

"It was Minato's last request for Naruto to stay in the village and…"

"I don't care if it was Kami's last will, the kid oughta know if he's even gonna stay here."

"No, don't!"

The hooded figure sweeped around, his green cloak floating around him dramatically as his gaze fell onto the utterly confused whiskered boy, staring at the fighting adults with a frightened look. He'd never seen the Old Man this mad before. He didn't even know what's going on.

"Listen Uzumaki Naruto, I know you're not stupid to see there's a reason why everyone talks behind your back and all that crap. Now listen carefully cause I'm only going to say this once, seven years ago on the day you were born, the Kyuubi no Yoko attacked Konoha and as a last resort, your father, the Yondaime, sacrificed his life to seal it inside you,"

The silence after that long statement was thick as concrete.

The Sandaime sat in frozen terror and outrage. He'd ruined everything! Naruto wasn't supposed to know about his heritage as well as the Kyuubi until he was at least genin or maybe even chunin!

Sarutobi knew very well that this information could very well affect the rest of Naruto's life and the hooded man in front of him had recklessly opened a tsunami of trouble. His mild headache was now the largest migraine in the world.

The hooded man stared from inside his clock with serious eyes at the boy in front of him. He wasn't a fool like the old man to his right. He knew that in order for the brat to get stronger, he had to understand why he wasn't like others and why he would never be treated with proper respect.

Keeping this information from him would keep him the low-minded idiot he was now and waiting until he was comfortable in that mindset to spring this information on him would explode in his face.

Naruto sat in silence, his blue eyes staring at the green carpeting on the floor, his brain racing a mile a minute, a small thin hand over his belly. He'd noticed something on his stomach before when he'd tried to do the exercises the teachers at the Academy had assigned him. He'd failed miserably, but seen the sun like swirl on his stomach, like a tattoo which disappeared when he let his chakra lose. The Old Man had dismissed it, but it made sense now.

Why everyone whispered behind his back and glared at him, raising prices in stores and not letting their kids play with them. Why the teachers at the Academy sneered at him and why that man had beaten him up while calling him a demon.

_A demon._

Naruto clenched his head with bony hands as his body shook. He could hear the distant voice of the Hokage, but all he could focus on was the whirlpool of thoughts rushing through his head. He had the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him.

Inside his body, sealed away by his father. Didn't that make him one, a demon? Was everything that that man said true?

_Demon. Murderer. Killer. Fox. Kyuubi. Kyuubi. KYUUBI NO YOKO._

The blonde boy's entire body convulsed as he retched onto the ground, the bitter bile only reassuring him that he was not dreaming. This wasn't a nightmare. He had a demon inside him. He was a demon. He was the demon that had attacked on his birthday seven years ago. His father had made him a demon and died, leaving him alone in the village. Making a demon live among humans and pretending to be one of them.

He looked at his hands, studying each bony finger with crazed interest. These hands could have killed the man beating him, the Kyuubi could have used them to kill.

_Kill_.

He'd killed so many years ago and that was why everyone hated him, why he couldn't graduate, why Sakura-chan hated him, why he didn't have a family.

_Because his father made him a demon._

His frantic crazed musing was suddenly cut short as he felt a sharp blow to the head. Shouting in pain, Naruto grabbed his head and felt warm liquid coming down the side of his head again. Blood.

Looking up, he saw the hooded man, green hood fallen back behind his shoulders. Thick brown hair was cut cleanly, revealing a tanned face, but a few strands rebelled and fell across an intelligent looking forehead. He wasn't extraordinarily handsome: skin was stretched tightly over fine angular bones and a sharp jaw and chin.

His ears were slightly large, making him look rather sly and a bit lopsided with a sharp slightly pointed nose and a thin chapped mouth. However, his looks were cut through with a vicious slash mark that trailed from his forehead across his nose and right cheek and ended jaggedly down to the hollow of his collar bone.

The scar was jagged, whiter, and prominent; slashing his features like his face had been cleaved in two. Now that he was right in front of him, Naruto found he was not that tall, but tall enough and not skinny but…he searched for the right word from his limited vocabulary…lean? Yes, lean, that would have to do.

"So you're a sissy, just like you're idiot of a father are you?" said the man harshly, his thin curved eyebrows furrowed together as he gave a disgusted grimance, as if the thought of his father left a bitter tang in his mouth,

"So the whole village doesn't like you, so you're going to pity yourself a demon and gonna hate the world and Kami for what they've done to you, like a pu…..chicken?"

He'd stopped himself from using a more colorful and vile language from a sharp icy glare from the elderly man. He was already on thin ice here with the Hokage; it wouldn't do to make things worse. One wrong step and his head could be cut cleanly from his shoulders.

Naruto stared at him with blank eyes, his equally blank mind giving one sentence of thought, "_Who is this man and is he frickin insane?"_

Grabbing the boy's thin shoulders roughly, the man dragged him to the wall where the pictures of the four Hokages where hung. Pointing at the last picture of a man with golden spiky locks perhaps even blonder than his and bluer eyes as well, the man said sharply,

"You're father was a bastard, I'm gonna admit that. But at least he wasn't someone who sit down and cry feeling sorry for himself if the whole world was against him. If he could do that, if he could frickin die so that you and this whole stupid village could be saved, who are you to feel sorry for yourself?"

"A demon," said Naruto plainly, his mind having fully accepted the fact, but his facial expression turned to that of shock as he was once more shaken roughly by the shoulders.

"Oh don't flatter yourself you little midget. There are much worse people who have the privilege of calling themselves demons. You don't have the right with that small runty thing you call a body."

It was now that Naruto natural attitude came back as he scowled and replied, "I am not a runt!"

"Yea sure, and the Hokage doesn't read porn."

Sarutobi, who'd been watching gravely up until now, sputtered indignantly.

After a few minutes of bantering back and forth, a hesitant smile came across Naruto's face and a soft nervous laugh came as the battle of wits with this unknown man pushed his depression away. Only when they were both out of breath did reality come back.

That was when Uzumaki Naruto began to sob. Like a baby, like a child, like the orphan who'd found out the reason why no one would ever truly like him, respect him like he wished for with all his might.

The rough man he'd been fighting pulled him into an awkward hug, patting his sunshine yellow hair as the boy sobbed for what he'd lost and learned, ignoring the blood staining his clock a dull brown. Thankfully, the bleeding had stemmed and stopped.

The older man at the desk stood back and said nothing. It had been the truth, better to have told it now than later. Another mistake of his own. He only felt a tinge of jealousy that it was that man whom Naruto was clinging to with a feverous need. A man who deserved it more than an old fool.

When the sobbing receded and the blonde child wiped away snot and tears, the scarred man gazed at him with sharp narrow eyes, which Naruto now could see were a light brown and keen as a knife, but held an emotion that he felt the man wasn't very comfortable with showing. And yet he did, for him…

"My name is Shindo Tomoaki," said the man, seriously, bluntly, truthfully, "Your dad was my teammate. I've come to take you away from Konoha."

=LINE BREAK=

Whew….ok so I'm done with the first chapter!!! Ah I'm happy. It was a frickin 10 pages on Word single spaced so I think I can afford to be a little proud of myself. So, even though I've been familiar with for a while, this is the first story I'm putting up after a few months of thought. Naruto is the manga I know best so I hope I did a good job hehehe. So a few bits of info:

Naruto is 7 years old, therefore he's been in the Academy for two years in my own portrayal. He started early at age 5, but only because he kinda begged his way in with Old Man Sarutobi ahaha. He begged to take the test early, but of course, he didn't know enough and failed miserably. He has not and probably will never meet Iruka. This is really sad but I need to take Naruto out of the village for him to develop into the character I plan him to be

Tomoaki is my Oc and sorry if he kinda barged in there out of nowhere. He's not super-powerful just because he's the Yondaime's teammate. I mean, he's really above average…My Naruto doesn't need an all-powerful sensei, just someone to knock sense into him once in a while. But I still love Tomo, as you will see later. There will also be two or maybe three other Ocs, but Naruto's still the main dude. I swear I'll try not to make them Mary-Sues or Gary-Stu's but yea…

Ok warning ya'll out there, THERE WILL PROBABLY BE YAOI IN THIS FANFIC. Naruto will probably be gay though not sure yet and one of my Ocs will probably be gay too. I personally think that the shinobi in the Naruto world would be in contact with death so much that they wouldn't care bout sexual orientation. The leading idea for Naruto is Sasuke, but there are too many SasuNaru or NaruSasu or what not so I'm going to try to avoid it. But as the story progresses, if anyone has any suggestions, that'd be nice. No flames if he is gay though.

Ok, really sorry this is so long but I don't wanna type all this stuff later. I'd really like it if people reviewed cause I wanna know what I want to change and improve. I wanna go into the writing career so any advice would be most appreciated. I have a pretty tough skin to insults, but just not flames ok?

Ok…so I'm done. Hope you like this first chapter and again sorry for the long author note. Review please! Oh, and I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! I wish…Ciao!


	2. Chapter 2

King of the Deck: Chapter Two

-Two Days Later-

The entire class in the Academy was out for recess and the sounds of children laughing and screaming could be heard from anywhere in the village. Children from some of the most prominent clans could be seen mingling among the next generation of shinobi. However, now they were only seven-year-old children. And many of them were giving hidden glances toward the solitary child swinging sadly on the long wooden swing beneath the largest tree in the courtyard.

"You know, that idiot Naruto has been really quiet for a while," muttered Yamanaka Ino, her pale blue eyes different from her usual gossiping gleam as she talked to the pink-haired girl beside her,

"He hasn't done anything stupid or funny, or anything! I think you were a little too hard with him Sakura…"

Haruno Sakura glanced over at the boy who looked alone, so lonely, that she felt the tiniest pull of regret. All he really had done was ask her out and it wasn't like he was _that_ bad of a person. Stupid, yes, but he _was_ really funny. However, her green eyes hardened as she retorted,

"Well Ino-pig, he's the one who insulted Sasuke-kun. Besides, my parents want me to stay away from him and imagine how much they'd freak out if I even thought of saying yes."

Ino stayed silent, but after a while nodded and went right back to gossiping about Ami and Souta. After all, though her parents had never said anything about staying away from Uzumaki Naruto, she didn't want to be with the class idiot. No matter how bad she felt, she wouldn't sacrifice her social life to make him go back to his usual idiot self.

On the farther corner of the playground, shaded lavender eyes glanced pityingly at the lonely boy on the swing with a petulant frown on his usual cheery face. Hyuga Hinata hadn't known the blonde child very long and had in fact never spoken to him. Her father had never insulted the boy, but had merely told her to stay away.

Obeying her father was an integral and fearful part of her life. It had been that way since her mother passed away after giving birth to her sister, Hanabi. Her mother had never recovered from her pregnancy with Hinata and she guesses that maybe, just maybe, her father held a little hate for her because of that.

Her depression was what drove many people, especially girls, away from her and her timid nervous nature never attracted anyone's attention. So she contented herself with merely observing and her life changed when she first caught sight of that sunny grin.

Uzumaki Naruto was nothing like she's ever seen and his determination, even when everyone immediately decided him a failure, was pretty impressive. After a year of watching him, Hinata had never seem that grin gone from his face until now and it worried her, a tiny tug pulled at the stem of her heart. But she didn't dare go near him. She wasn't as strong, nearly as brave to go against her father's wishes. Not even for a boy who had caught her attention.

It was rather surprising who eventually went over and confronted the solemn blond. It wasn't Sakura, his long-time crush. It wasn't Ino, who had surprised herself by feeling sorry for him. It wasn't Choji, Shikamaru, or Kiba, whom he'd always get into trouble with all the time. It wasn't even Hinata, the girl who admired him so. It was a thatch of dark blue-black hair with spikes sticking out behind in like it'd been flattened that way on purpose that made its way over.

"Hey idiot," said a soft slightly arrogant, but woefully young sounding voice.

Bright blue meet solid black as this first exchange of non-combat words since they'd meet in class a year ago initiated. A small grim smile stretched thin tanned lips.

"Hey bastard"

Uchiha Sasuke, even at seven years old, had the makings of a true Uchiha. Pale skin, dark hair, dark eyes, and lean strong frame practically generated for the makings of a shinobi. His pride was only shown by the red and white fan on the back of his blue shirt. He sat lightly beside the creaking swing and stayed quiet, waiting for the blonde to break the thick awkward silence, starting to play with the long strands of grass that grew beneath the tree. He'd never talked to him civilly before, his parents had never wanted him to go near "that Uzumaki boy" so he really didn't know why he was doing this. The blonde was an idiot and a failure at nearly all ninjutsu, taijutsu, henge, genjutsu, get here he was, the top of the class, talking to this loser. He really didn't know why his body was acting so completely stupid….

"You know, do you think that the class would be better off without me?"

Dark eyes glanced over, but Naruto wasn't looking at him. His misty blue eyes were gazing at the Academy with something that Sasuke really couldn't describe.

"I don't know moron. It's not like anything would change…."

The harsh words stung, but they were the truth. And Uchiha Sasuke would not lie to make this idiot feel any better about himself.

"And what about the village, do you think it'd be better off without me?"

"…there wouldn't be any more pranks I guess. That would be a little bit of an improvement."

"Aah I see…"

Sasuke gave Naruto a look. This wasn't like the blonde, to be so thoughtful and so….reserved. Normally if something like this was ever said to his face, he'd scream about how he'd be Hokage and all that. But now, at the current moment, he saw nothing of the shrieking proud idiot and saw kid whose face was dark with brooding and a bit of resentment and sadness. Sasuke was a bit proud of his maturity among those in his class, he had to be in order to compete with his brother, but he felt a bit childish as he saw just how _old_ Naruto looked.

"Why are you wondering about this stuff anyway?"

"…Because I might leave."

A sharp glare pierced and analyzed the blonde as Sasuke stared at the blonde idiot in disbelief. He might what? The loud moron who only chatted about becoming the best Hokage was going to what? His gaze, however, caught sight of the crisp white bandage wrapped around his head, hidden under the unruly mop of bright hair and the slight scars and fading bruises around his face and hands.

"Did something happen?"

"….You could say that."

"Where are you going"

"I don't know"

"With who?"

"I can't tell you."

An silence enveloped the two figures under the tree as they both came to a mutual unspoken agreement. Uzumaki was going to leave; he didn't have anything here in Konoha. And Uchiha, dare he say it, didn't want him to go.

"…will you come back?"

Blue eyes gazed at him as a little spark of the old Naruto poked through as he gave a crooked smile that fit his cheerful face.

"Maybe."

Sasuke abruptly stood up, dusting the seat of his stark white pants as everyone started to go inside, the teacher calling out that recess was over. He turned and looked the still seated blonde straight in the eye and Naruto stared right back. They had never talked to each other without a cruel childish motive. They rarely sat next to each other, opting to talk with their fists. They were on different ends of the chain: he was top of the class and he was the dead last. Yet here, under the tree at noon, Sasuke surprised himself and broke that unspoken rivalry.

"You better come back."

Dropping something at the blondes feet, the dark-haired boy turned, the Uchiha crest blazing proudly on his back, and strode confidently back inside with the last drove of children.

Looking down, Naruto reached and picked up a small green item. It was a grass ring, woven from the grass under the tree. He'd noticed Sasuke's pale fingers toying with the strands, but he never guessed the Uchiha boy could be so…girly in making rings with them. Repressing a snort of amusement, he passed the ring from one hand to the other. It was surprisingly strongly made and fit on his thumb quite loosely. It was plainly braided, but it made Naruto smile. Slipping it into his pocket, Naruto got off the swing and walked out the front gates of the Academy. He didn't look back, as the Uchiha had done, but he fingered the grass ring in his pocket.

Uzumaki Naruto didn't return to the Academy next day

=LINE BREAK=

Tomo didn't know in what state his mind was when he'd uttered those words to that blonde brat, who'd been sobbing uncontrollably on his shoulder.

"_My name is Shindo Tomoaki. Your dad was my teammate. I've come to take you away from Konoha."_

Groaning to himself, he keeled over onto the couch he'd bunked on last night, the couch itself groaning under its heavy load. Of course that had been a total and complete utter lie. Why would he come back all the way to Konoha for some brat, especially Minato's kid?

His squirming body grew still at the nostalgic thought of his genin teammate. Naruto was almost exactly like the bastard. Blond spikes, blue eyes, a maddening inability to shut up at the correct time. They could have been twins only the brat had slight differences. Probably from his mother, but then again he'd never bothered to meet Kushina, though he had heard she was quite a beauty. Figures that the bastard got the good-looking ones.

Sighing, the scarred man ran a calloused hand through his very short hair, his fingers glancing over the large obscene slash that ruined his face like a shot. It was odd being back in Konoha after all these long years, ten years at the last count. He didn't like it, he didn't like the idea that this village had prospered, that under his fool of a teammate whom everyone worshiped like a god, Konoha had flourished. His mood darkened at the thought that in spite of all that, Minato couldn't take care of his son.

Suddenly restless, the scarred shinobi grabbed his forest green cloak, now free from the former blood and tear stains and walked out of the brat's apartment. Granted, thankfully, the kid had been quiet last night, staring off into space and almost asking him questions, but stopping himself. Good. Tomo wasn't good with children, which was why he'd probably never have a family of his own. One of the many good traits he had, in addition to his face and bitter attitude.

He gained a few looks for his facial appearance, causing him to abruptly pull his hood up. He didn't like it when people stared. It hadn't been good ten years ago in this godforsaken village and it wasn't good now.

-_Flashback-_

_He was lying in the hospital bed, white sheets clinging to him as he clenched with self restraint._

_He must not touch_

_He must not touch _

_He must not….the pain was agonizing and engulfed him like a plague. The sharp heat trailed all the way down his face as did another round his stomach and down his thigh and he had to grind his teeth together to force himself to not scream out the torture he was going through._

"_We've done all we can Shindo-san, but the wound…it will scar. Thankfully it missed your brain and eyes, however, many of your nerves were damaged beyond repair. You're eyes will have diminished vision, you're reflexes will not be as quick as usual, and your tolerance for pain is increased, so you must be careful. Also, the important nerves to your lungs have been damaged considerably. So you will probably be out of breath quite earlier than you're used to. In short, I don't think that you should be on active-duty anymore…"_

_Never had he hated a doctor so much as he had that one for even insinuating that he should give up on being a shinobi. It was the only thing left in his life. His father had been a shinobi. His brothers had been shinobi. His mother had always encouraged him, despite the aching in her heart that he knew she had had before she passed away. And yet this fool was insinuating that he give up this profession, because his face and reflexes had been damaged? Bullshit._

"_Tomo-kun," said his sensei, his usual goofy face solemn as he gazed at his damaged student, "The doctor is right. You're not fit to be a shinobi anymore."_

_Bullshit._

"_It'd be useless for you to over exert yourself over nothing," replied Hiashi, his teammate's lavender eyes gazing upon his body on the hospital bed, "It will not do for you to die."_

_Bullshit._

"_Shindo Tomoaki," said the Sandaime, his face full of pity, but stern, "You are relieved from your duties as a shinobi until further notice."_

_Bullshit._

"_Come on Tomo," said Minato, his usually cheery face serious as he glanced at his injured, useless, pathetic teammate, "It'll be alright. You don't have to be a shinobi. I mean, don't you think it's time for you to rest?"_

_He was useless, alone, and pathetic as the pain continued to burn him. He'd lost his way of life, the only way he had been raised and the only thing left in his future for his fool of a teammate who was the special one. Who always got the best training and was going to be Hokage someday. Tomo wept into his pillow, his face and body racked with pain and bitter grief._

_-End Flashback-_

"Tomoaki?"

The scarred shinobi was jolted out of his bitter reminiscence as he found himself in front of the Academy. He wondered why he'd even gone here. There were no good memories in this place for him, where he'd faded into the background. So why had his feet driven him to a place that held no promise for him? Turning toward the sound of his name, his own narrow light brown eyes meet with wide lavender orbs.

"Hiashi"

The Hyuga he'd left behind had changed much, but Tomo still saw the remenints of the proud arrogant boy he'd managed to befriend during his rough days as a genin. Hiashi had grown, taller than him, and grown his hair out long so that iron black strands hung down his back. He'd lost the classic headband and his face had aged slightly, small wrinkles between his eyebrows, on the corner of his eyes, and around his mouth. But he was still as stately, as strong as he'd ever been ten years ago. To his left stood a small girl whose head came no taller than his waist. He saw the trademark Hyuga eyes and gave a small smile.

"Your daughter?"

Hiashi nodded, his surprised expression smoothening to its regular impassivness, "This is Hinata, my eldest."

Hinata gave a small bow, but stayed quiet, a dusky blush on her small angular face. Tomo repressed a small snort of humor, nothing like Hiashi's arrogance as a kid.

"So you and Hikari finally have the family you always wanted."

He remember the mild-mannered and sunny Hyuga woman who'd managed to turn Hiashi into quite the puddle of goo in her hands. However, his smile faded as Hiashi stiffened and Hinata squeaked.

"Hikari passed away three years ago, after the birth of my second daughter Hanabi."

"Ah, I'm sorry for your loss. I did not mean to bring up bad memories."

"You did bring up memories Tomo, they just aren't necessarily bad."

Tomo smiled as the tall and proud Hyuga called him by his nickname. It'd been a while since he'd heard that from familiar lips.

"What are you doing here?"

"Truthfully Hi-kun, I really don't know."

He snickered a little as Hiashi's eyes narrowed at the insipid nickname the entire genin team had given the Hyuga heir in his childhood. Even Hikari had taken up on the habit, for which Hiashi had blushed a bright red quite improper for a Hyuga. He even saw the shy Hyuga brat next to his friend giggle a little. Hiashi turned to his daughter and motioned her to go on without him and soon the two were alone.

Tomo smiled at the thought. Of his small group of friends, Hiashi had surprisingly been the closest, and even then their relationship consisted mostly of grunts and insults. But the two had been on the same team since they were genin and only when Tomo had been taken off duty had they been separated.

"You left the village for your own reasons, I do not think you would return so easily without cause."

The scarred shinobi debated on whether or not to tell his friend the truth.

"I came for Minato's son."

"…the Kyuubi vessal?"

"Yes."

"…I did not think you would be so kind as to care for your hated rival's legacy."

"I didn't think you would leave your teammate's son alone to fend for himself."

Hiashi's pale eyes glinted with an unknow emotion, letting him know that he'd hit a sore nerve.

"It was a…difficult situation. I could not afford to go against my clan's wishes."

"In other words, you didn't want to lose face with your clan by taking on the demon-brat"

"You are blunt as ever Tomo"

"As I ever will be Hi-kun."

And yet, the brown-eyed shinobi held no resentment for his teammate. There was no use shouting at what could have happened. Naruto had grown up to become Naruto, no deal of shouting would solve that.

"…Will you be taking him out of the village?"

"Goddamnit, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing! I'm not good with kids! And its fucking Minato's kid! Namikaze Minato! I mean, what the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Your foul language is not helping the situation and for gods' sake, keep your voice down. No one is supposed to know about this."

"Because that old fool is an idiot, that's why."

"You know, even I am surprised. Why would you, a person who despised the boy's father, take up his son?"

For a while, the silence enveloped the two old friends as Tomo thought deeply while Hiashi waited patiently. The older Hyuga knew his friend and as blunt and rough as he was, he knew that Tomo always had a reason for everything.

Despite saying over and over again that he hated Minato for ruining his career, Hiashi knew that Tomo was not capable of such hatred. He would never be capable of hating someone like he pretended to ten years ago. Tomo had not left because he hated Minato, he'd left because of the same reason he was taking Uzumaki Naruto out of the village.

Tomo looked up at his oldest and dearest friend, his light brown eyes a slight yellowish color in the darkening light.

"Because he doesn't belong here."

Hiashi nodded and gave his old teammate a thump on the back.

"Good to know you've finally given up on your so called hatred."

Tomo's lip twitched into a scowl as he yelled at the Hyuga's back, "I still hate that bastard. Just because I'm going to take his son, doesn't mean I've forgiven him."

Hiashi Hyuga never turned, he merely raised his hand and waved in a silent farewell for the second time in his life.

Tomo's lips twitched again, but he strode off in search for a mop of sunshine blonde hair. Stupid Hyugas.

=LINE BREAK=

"Am I doing this right?"

For about the hundredth time, Tomo felt like just banging his head onto a tree until he fell unconscious. Anything to just shut the boy up and get a little, if not a tiny speck of the rest he felt he deserved. Light brown eyes gazed in an irritated manner at the blonde brat in front of him.

It'd been two weeks since the duo had left Konoha with the Sandaime's blessing after the blondie had agreed solemnly that he wanted to leave the village. Right afterwards, Tomo had decided to teach him the simplest of excesizes to get his body used to training. Going from one stance to the other looked easy, but one needed it to be reflex before they could go on to any of the fancier moves.

The whiskered boy's arms were positioned correctly, both fists up covering his face and upper torso, but his feet were too far apart. Sighing, Tomo walked over and jabbed the boy underneath the rib. He doubled over, lost his poor balance, and fell face first onto the dusty earth.

"You're feet are too far apart. Keep them about two or three steps wide. Straighten your back, tense your forearms, this is a defense stance. You are _preventing_ someone from kicking or punching you in the face remember?"

The blonde's face morphed into a scowl, but he did as he was told. Tomo mentally cheered. Only two weeks before, the blonde would have gone on a full-blown argument on why he had to listen to a "washed up old bag of a ninja." He was only 35. It was mildly degrading being told off like that from a seven-year-old.

However, thought Tomo as he watched the brat go through the exercises again, he had to admit that the blonde had definantly improved. While not a genius in the typical sense, Naruto soaked up his lessons like a sponge and as the scarred shinobi had noticed, slightly altered each stance to fit him. It was his creativity and regular flexibility to the stance and situation that caught his eye.

Tomo smirked, the boy may have looked like his father, but he knew very well that Minato had never strayed into anything outside the box. Even the Rasengan had been multiple theories he'd managed to piece together. A real piece of work, but still from the book.

After about an hour of katas, a hungry Naruto walked over to their small fire, scowling at the sight of cooked fish again, but didn't complain. He'd learned after day one that in the wilderness, there were no such things as instant ramen. He'd mourned for several days after that, earning funny looks from Tomo, but had gotten used to the lack of his favorite food. If only they didn't have fish so often…

"Hey Tomo-sensei?"

Tomo winced into his fish. He hated that name, but really, what else was blondie going to call him. God save him if the brat ever dared call him _Aniki, _or worse, _Otou-san._ He shuddered visibly at the thought.

"What?"

"I've been wondering, where'd you get that scar on your face?"

"None of your business"

"Come ooooonnnn, tell me!"

Tomo twitched at the growing whine in the seven-year-old's voice. Strike that, maybe the brat _had_ gotten something from Minato after all.

"No"

"Please?"

"No"

"Pretty please?"

"I said fucking no!"

"Jii-san said you're not supposed to curse in front of me."

"Well the old man ain't here, is he?"

"I can still tell on you though."

"……I don't like you"

Naruto gave a grin, complete with lots and lots of bright white teeth. His chubby cheeks, though still indomitably round, had lessened ever so slightly and Tomo was grateful to see that the bird-like thinness had slightly faded. His eyes narrowed, but he started to speak in the gravely horse voice.

"Your dad was my teammate and even after we all made jonin, him and I were still on a team with our third teammate, Hiashi. We were on a mission to get some documents in an enemy ninja camp. We were almost done with our mission when we were suddenly attacked. Your dad was doing great, but he got stupid and got a kunai in his arm. An enemy ninja was about to slice him in two when I stupidly got charged between them and…"

Tomo made a slashing motion with his finger and Naruto's blue eyes widened and fell silent. The scarred shinobi would have usually been grateful for the silence, but the sudden eeriness of it gave him a restless anxious feeling. Perhaps he shouldn't have told him that story, but it was bound to come up sometime. Mentally groaning as he cleaned up and Naruto got meekly ready for bed, he remembered the stupid bastard's words.

"_That's our Tomo-kun. As nice as a snake and as subtle as a kunai to the face."_

The sad thing was, that despite his intense disliking for the blonde idiot, Tomo knew very well that Minato had been right. He shouldn't have talked about killing to a little kid who still thought ninja was all about catching the bad guy and saving the day.

"Hey Tomo-sensei…if you got hurt and stuff, weren't you scared to still be a ninja?" asked a small shy voice from deep inside the red sleeping bag.

Tomo carefully thought about his words before replying simply, "No, because I knew being a ninja would be like that, and getting hurt didn't change that."

Naruto's tan whiskered face peeked out as he stared at the slash that ran down his sensei's face. It looked like it must have hurt a lot. And even after that, he still wanted to be a ninja?

Tomo glanced at the little kid with sharp eyes, serious now, as he said hoarsely, "So why do you want to be a shinobi Naruto?"

The blonde opened his mouth to answer immediately. To be Hokage, same as always, the dream he'd always had since he was a kid. But abruptly, he closed his mouth and dug deep into his sleeping bag, his mind and morals jumbled.

Being a ninja meant getting hurt like Tomo-sensei or maybe even killed.

Naruto's breath caught at the thought of dying, It was scary and something he'd never thought about.

So, if being a Hokage meant being a ninja and getting hurt or maybe killed…Did he really want to be a ninja?

The night was quiet that night with thinking.

=LINE BREAK=

The town the Sohma was a decent civilian town with ordinary people living an ordinary life. So the scene of pandemonium, chaos, and utter horror that enveloped the town seemed like a picture of madness to Tomo as he flattened himself against the wall, jerking the small blonde child to his side as the mob of people ran away, faces smudged with ashes and sweat.

His sharp golden-brown eyes caught the remains of blood speckled onto grimy faces. He saw people carrying their wounded loved ones to safety,

He grabbed a passing civilian by the shirt, dragging him backward by his expensive, but utterly stained shirt. The man, fat and cowardly looking, screamed at the sight of the intiminating man.

"P-p-please, I have n-n-no mon-n-ey. P-please spare me!"

Slit eyes glared at him so furiously that the man couldn't help but squirm like a worm, tears blubbering down his fat cheeks like oil.

"Who is attacking the village?"

"The Asone bandits! They came out of no where and declared war on our town! At least a hundred of them!"

"…They attacked for no reason at all?"

"Yes! None! We were all minding our own business when these thugs with swords and clubs start killing everybody!"

A silence took hold of the scarred man and the fat man blubbered as he looked frantically away, anything to avert his eyes from the horrid white scar taunt on a lean hollow face. He wouldn't dare insult this man, even by staring. He had to get away!

Abruptly, he was thrown to the ashy ground roughly and a hoarse voice whispered, "Run worm."

And the man ran, ran as if his life depended on it.

"Tomo-sensei, what are we going to do?"

"…get out stuff and get the hell out of here."

"Shouldn't we help them at least?"

"We came here for supplies not heroics."

"But aren't ninja heros?"

"…No kid, they aren't …but I guess we can find out what's going on."

=END=


	3. Chapter 3

King of the Deck: Chapter Three

"_Tomo-sensei, what are we going to do?"_

"…_get out stuff and get the hell out of here."_

"_Shouldn't we help them at least?"_

"_We came here for supplies not heroics."_

"_But aren't ninja heroes?"_

"…_No kid, they aren't …but I guess we can find out what's going on."_

=LINE BREAK=

The town wasn't that large, only about an eighth of Konoha, yet the deeper they went into the streets, Naruto's nose wrinkled with the smell of blood and smoke. Dark red liquid peppered the ground, but the bodies had presumably been dragged away by the streaky red smears on the dusty ground. His bright blue eyes widened as he first caught sight of a slumped man in an alleyway, his eyes blank and dull as his mouth, dripping crimson liquid, lay open in a perpetual mask of fear.

He felt the bile coming up and nearly puked his guts out, but a rough hand shoved itself over his eyes and a gruff hoarse voice rasped, "Don't look, don't talk, and don't puke." Shakily, the blonde nodded, his hollowed cheeks now a bit paler as he walked by, determined to not look toward the corpse. Luckily, it was the only one they saw, but the screams and shouts grew louder as they got into the center of town.

"No, no, please, have mercy. Have mercy!"

Tomo's slitted eyes narrowed as he unconsciously shoved the blonde child behind him with a calloused hand, viewing the chaos in the market center. There were not many people, perhaps a handful, as most had fled, but one man in samurai armor lay slain on the ground, red blood pooling in the dust, as a smaller, plumper man kneeled pitifully before a small figure, only a little taller than Naruto.

"Please, please, I'll give you anything, pleas just spare me!" the man groveled as his black eyes, tiny beads in his plump rolls, drizzled hot oily tears.

"And to think I begged you of the same thing years ago when I was at your mercy," replied the figure.

It was a girl's voice, small, rough from disuse, and scathingly menacing with deeply rooted hatred. No taller than Naruto, the figure was stick skinny, pale bones jutting out of ragged brown sack-like clothing, dark brown hair, matted with something darker, stringy and hanging across her waist. The only thing that seemed remotely decent on her person was two katana at her side, black and white, with both blades positioned at the rich man's neck.

"I had to take you to jail, you were trying to kill me and destroy the village," replied the man pitifully, "It was not for my own pleasure. Please, I beg of you, grant me mercy."

Bony fingers curled tightly around the worn handle of the katana as it rose into the air. The surrounding people gasped and cringed as it glittered, deadly sharp, in the noon light, as the figure whispered hoarsely, "So ends my revenge."

With a sickening spat, the blade swung down, but it was not the rich man who was cleaved in two. The figure, presumably a girl now, screamed in agony, her skinny frame shaking as she grabbed at her right arm, glancing two feet in front of her where her blade, as well as her arm, lay bleeding on the ground. The pain seemed unbearable as through a curtain of dirty mangled hair, the figure still continued to scream, grabbing and kneading the stump left in order to divert the bleeding to no avail. Above her, another man in samurai armor, presumably a guard, stood over her with a smart sadistic grin while the rich man glanced at her, surrounded by at least a dozen men, now superior in his safe-guarding and his near-killer's pitiful crying of pain.

"Kill her"

The guard obeyed with pleasure as he raised his own blade, his own beady eyes staring straight at the bony white neck in front of him. With a sudden burst of pure adrenaline rush, the girl managed to crawl forward in her agony and grab her katana. A blade swung down. A blade thrust up. And a twisted gurgle insured as drops of blood started to fall even faster. Collapsing to her knees, the slight figure panted, her weak body wracked with silent screaming sobs from her pain as the guard lay dead, thrust through the heart with a careful aim.

The rich man again stared at her with shock, his body trembling like a leaf as the plump round hand pointed at her.

"You…you monster, what the hell are you?"

Gasping for breath as her own blood still bleeding profusely from her own slaughtered arm, the figure stared the rich man straight in the eyes, tears bleeding from her eyes as much as the blood from the stump of a mangled limb she cradled to her bony chest.

"I will destroy you for what you've done!" she screamed, gripping the katana in left hand unsteadily. Tomo's frown deepened as his eyes gazed at the scene. Though she had mediocre sword skills and the luck of the lady with her in the case of the samurai, she was losing blood fast and was obviously not left-handed.

Sweat beaded her pale bony forehead as her face, as much as he could see past the curtain of dirty long hair, was stretched with pain. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes glassy with the pain shooting through her body. She would not last very long in her state.

Behind him, Naruto own eyes widened and his face paled at the sight of the girl's severed arm on the ground only a few feet away from him. Bile was sour in his throat, but he held it in like instructed. He didn't dare disobey in this situation. But the severed thing, pale and limp on the dusty ground, was itself merely skin and bone, no flesh to make it even seem like it had been attached to a living being only moments ago.

"Naruto," whispered Tomo brusquely as he didn't take his eyes off of the girl in the center, ready to collapse, "I want you to run. Run back to the camp now." 

Struggling to keep the unpleasant sensation bubbling up in his throat and chest, Naruto croaked, "But...but…I want to stay. I want to help." 

"You are about to puke and you're going to be useless here when that fat worm's men attack."

Naruto momentarily forgot about his revulsion as he stared in angry disbelief at his sensei, who wasn't even sparing him a glance, his face seeming older and harder, the prominent scar seemed to glow out of the menacing expression. He wasn't useless! He could fight, he could help! He wasn't the little boy who'd left Konoha a weakling! Resentment filled the blonde, but he dared not disobey.

"Anything else, _sensei?"_

Tomo made no move that he heard the whispered angry sarcasm in the title, but merely gave a sharp nod and the blonde boy took off with quiet shuffling steps, just like Tomo taught him to cover his tracks by brushing the dirt away to avoid making footprints. A little harder than usual, probably from his hasty words, but the brat left. Thank god he'd listened for once. He'd have time to explain his words later, but now, the veteran shinobi focused his eyes on the scene before him.

"Pft," chuckled the rich man, his beady eyes lit with sadistic amusement, although sweat beaded his neck, "You think you can touch me? I have a castle; I have guards who will tear you to shreds! Just you try, I'll only kill you the next time."

Wobbling on uneasy legs, the girl stepped forward, her eyes trained on the fat man with loathing, but her knees gave out she sank, eliciting laughter from the guards and the lord.

"I grow tired of this," said the rich man, snapping his fingers, "Kill her and let's be done with it."

The guards advanced, swords held defensively, but without effort. Why try when killing a half-dead beggar child? Without warning, the girl lashed out with her katana like a tiger. Clumsily, she managed to stab one of the guards in the gut shallowly, slashing her sword around like a drunken man, drunk on the pain that enveloped her shaking malnourished body.

At that moment, Tomo almost took the kunai from the pouch at his hip and almost charged in to rescue this bony revengeful girl from a bloody death. Almost. But memories arise at the worse time, fears haunt you just at the moment you need it not.

"_We've done all we can Shindo-san, but the wound… I don't think that you should be on active-duty anymore…"_

"_You're not fit to be a shinobi anymore."_

"_You don't have to be a shinobi."_

His light slits of eyes narrowed even more as the scarred ninja stood stock still, his body petrified with the thought of yet again, throwing himself into a situation to save another. He had jumped in to save Minato. It had gotten him handicapped for life.

He was no longer fit to be an active shinobi, all because he'd been brash and stupid enough to care for a stupid fool who could have very well taken care of himself. And yet, not a word of thanks, not a word of encouragement, only…

"_You don't have to be a shinobi Tomo-kun."_

"I hate you!" his mind screamed, suddenly oblivious to everything except his own pain. Caring for anyone else got him hurt. Saving someone took away his only way of life. Throwing his life away got him staring eyes, pity, and dishonor, his fool of a teammate staring at him with pity-filled blue eyes.

"_You don't have to be a shinobi."_

"_But aren't ninja heroes?"_

His mind jolted at the thought. His eyes suddenly open to the skinny dirty weak girl flailing her katana still, fighting tooth and nail for survival. He was god at that moment. He had a choice to make. Was it worth it to save this little girl?

"_But aren't ninja heroes?"_

Were they heroes? A shinobi was an assassin, a death-dealer, someone who did murder for others and yet…could they be considered heroes?

"_I want to be the best shinobi in the world," exclaimed a mop of spiky blue hair and cool blue eyes, staring cheerfully at his new teammates, "so I can be a hero who'll take care of the village!"_

_A hero…_

With that lingering thought, his legs moved freely, his hands steadily as he ran into the midst of the guards surrounding like wolves over the dying girl. He let out his agonizing frustration, beating it into flesh as he thought on the thought that clashed against everything that had branded itself into his being when he'd left Konoha

_A Hero…_

=LINE BREAK=

The camp was incredibly quiet, devoid of any of the usual cheerful chatter as the fire crackled, sparks popping onto the hands that tended it, but Naruto didn't mind. Turning the crude handmade wooden spit, he made sure the precious meat did not burn. Finally, something other than fish! It made his mouth water after days of thin tasteless fish. Not as good as ramen, but he'd eat what he could get.

Looking over to his right, his blue eyes caught sight of the motionless figure inside his sleeping bag. Now that most of the blood in her hair and face had been washed off, he could see a gaunt pale face framed with long dark brown wild locks. She wasn't pretty; he searched for the right words as he studied the high statuesque cheekbones, high forehead, and sharp jaw and chin. She had rounder eyes than most and thin arching eyebrows, making her look perpetually startled, and a thin round chapped mouth. Naruto finally decided on the word handsome. She wasn't as beautiful as Sakura-chan had been at home, but she had features that were striking and memorable.

His heart gave a small twinge at the thought of his pink-haired crush, but he quickly squashed it mercilessly. He wasn't mad at the green-eyed girl; he only pitied her that her parents had forcibly made her grow to dislike him, wasting her time chasing a distant unknown boy she only knew by name.

He fingered the grass ring that he hung from his neck on a leather cord he'd begged Tomo-sensei to buy a few days ago. He wondered what the dark-haired boy was doing now, if he was thinking of him. Did he even remember giving him this simple gift he treasured for seemingly no reason? His mind spun with questions and a lack of answers. Seeing his attachment to the fragile thing, the scarred shinobi had placed a jutsu to prevent the grass from decaying and crumbling. Even if he was angry at his sensei, Naruto couldn't help but feel extreme fondness for the scarred rough shinobi who'd taken him from his home.

But…was he happy to be trekking through woods and dirt roads, eating tasteless fish daily and training so hard he was nearly unconscious when it was time for bed?

His thoughts were interrupted with a groan to his right.

"Water," croaked an incredibly small whisper, "Water!"

Grabbing the canteen in his bag, the blonde boy jumped over and gently poured fresh cold water between her chapped lips. Up close, though thin and ragged as ever, he realized he had chosen the right word to describe her. Looking up at him with brown eyes tinged red, she was startlingly attractive if not for her worn haggardness, the way she wore her body like a heavy burden.

The stump that ended right after her elbow also sufficed to make her seem old.

"Don't touch your arm," Naruto warned as she finished drinking heavily, "It's still healing and it might bleed if you move too much." Naruto himself had really no clue how bad the situation about her arm was, but he said what Tomo had told him. The shinobi had stitched the wound and cleaned it with alcohol, but both agreed that they would stop at the nearest hospital soon enough.

The girl stared at him with gaunt eyes. Now that she was awake, he could discern she only a few years older than him, maybe 9 or 10 years old.

"Who are you," she whispered hoarsely, her skin frighteningly pale in the warm glow of the fire as her round red-brown eyes took in the sight of the sleeping bag and the camp surrounding her, her skinny frame tensing, then relaxing as she realized the pain of it.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto," replied the blonde boy cheerily as he could, flashing the elder girl a small quip of a grin, "And the guy who saved you was Tomo-sensei, he left for a little while, but he's gonna come back soon."

She was silent for a while and an awkward silence enveloped the both of them as Naruto sheepishly turned the spit over the fire again. The fire popped and crackled as the girl looked into the flames, her eyes burning just as much as she finally broke the silence,

"My name is Mana."

Naruto smiled at her. "Mana huh? Mana, Mana, It's nice to know your name."

She gave him an odd look, one that combined weariness with rage, sadness, and confusion into one big emotional mess.

"Mana means strength to move onward. It's nice. My name means maelstrom, like the kind of storm."

"Not fishcake?" asked a dry voice as Tomo walked into the clearing, his bulging bag thrown over his shoulder, and ruffled a mop of blonde hair in slight humor.

Naruto frowned, "My name means maelstrom!"

"Who knows? Minato was stupid enough to name you after his favorite topping."

"My name does not mean fishcake!" He was pretty used to Tomo-sensei bagging on his dad. It didn't bother him so much as it had the first day. Tomo-sensei was never happy unless he had something to grumble about. Didn't mean he was named after a ramen topping though. The old man had told the whiskered blonde many times that his name meant maelstrom, the type of storm that razed everything in its path. He liked it, but unfortunately, names have multiple meanings.

Ignoring the fuming blonde, Tomo turned to the brown-haired girl staring at them with a pained expression on her thin face.

"Are you ok? Is your arm bothering you?"

Her reddish-brown eyes clouded over as she whispered faintly, "Otou-san, Okaa-san, Taka onii-chan, Hiro onii-chan…"

"Mana?" asked Naruto hesitantly as the girl began to tremble quietly, her long wet dirty hair draping over her like a curtain.

Dark drops appeared on the sleeping bag as she continued to tremble, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"Mana," said Tomo as he placed a rough hand on her shoulder as gently as he could, but even that was unable to shake her out of her panic attack.

She looked at him with clouded wet eyes, "Otou-san."

Tomo stared at her, his body rigid as he held his hand still on her shoulder, trying to discern the uncomfortable feeling welling inside him.

"What happened to you?" he asked stiffly, his slittish brown eyes gazing into her own round ones, his white scars matching with her own stump of an arm.

Naruto sat to their right, feeling oddly isolated.

Mana's eyes, looking larger as they filled with more tears trailing down her dangerously hollow cheeks, never cleared up, but her chapped lips moved as she told her story with in a hoarse haunting whisper…

-_flashback-_

"_Nooo!" yelled a small 6 year old girl as she watched the lord's guards loot her humble home, taking the only things she had to remember her parents and brothers. She screamed and kicked, the iron grip of the laughing guards held her down, her face shoved into the gritty dirt._

_Taka Onii-chan's favorite knife, the one with the silver handle that he used to whittle wood._

_Hiro Onii-chan's books, the ones that he'd save all his allowance for 3 months._

_Okaa-san's favorite jade earrings, the only precious piece of jewelry she owned._

_Otou-san's tools and all the things he'd ever made._

_A weedy looking man wearing a violet robe and a long thin looking mustache droned in a sallow voice as if he'd done this so many times before, "The family of Hijikata Kotaro has failed to pay the necessary taxes for the past 9 months. Now, all items belong to Lord Sakata Shimura as punishment."_

"_We were starving you bastard," she screamed, kicking her legs and punching up in desperation. She wanted to save something, just one thing to remember her family who were gone, all because of the fat lord who ruled over the town, "No one in the entire town has had food. My family starved to death!"_

"_They still did not pay the necessary taxes," replied the man in a bored dismissive manner, waving his thin spidery hands in the air at the small dirty girl he didn't want near his expensive shoes._

"_There was no money! There was no food! We were dying and still that fat worm sits at his castle and does nothing!" she shouted._

_One of the guards kicked her in the face, hard. Blood flowed into her mouth and she felt searing pain as her nose went crunch, more blood seeping onto the ground as rough hands finally dropped her to the floor of her deserted looted empty home._

"_His Lord Hijikata still requires his taxes," said the man in a final tone, his dark depthless eyes staring at the prostrate girl staring with empty eyes at her deserted home, "It is the duty of all who live in the town of Sohma._

_With that they turned and left and the girl did not moved from her kneeled position. _

"_Mana," her father had whispered, his face gaunt and pale as skin stretched over bones, no substantial muscle over his bony figure, lying on the ground helplessly, his large brown eyes fading in front of her, "You must live. Everyone is gone, but you…you…must live…" _

_Everything was gone. Mother, father, her brothers, her home, nothing was left._

_-End Flashback-_

Tomo stared at her with his cattish brown eyes filled with a petulant emotion, but not pity. He could not pity the girl or any other sob story he heard throughout his travels. People died from starvation, cruelty, disease, and war. He could not wrap this bone-thin girl in his arms and whisper that she would be all right. It would be a crime to lie to this girl.

"After that, I got caught up in with the Hishimonji bandits," said Mana monotonously, her reddish brown eyes blank as she stared into the blazing fire before her, "They taught me how to fight. But it wasn't out of pity. I had to fight and steal or…" Her hoarse voice trailed off, but the others got the meaning of the silence. Sin or Shame; to sell one's honor or one's body.

"We invaded Soma two years later. To get food and money," continued the girl as she twisted a knarred piece of dirty hair with her left hand, "I left to find Hijikata and to kill him. I didn't find him for a few hours, but I found the tax collector Youta." She smiled briefly, a grim maniacal smile that reflected the bittersweet revenge of killing the man who'd made her suffer, who'd dismissed the parting of her most treasured people. With her thin bony appearance, the skin stretched over high cheekbones, making her look like a grinning skeleton. There was a tiny spark in her eyes, as if the remembrance of revenge stirred her on, made her stronger. It unnerved the two others to a degree that they shifted uncomfortably.

"Afterwards, I finally found the fat worm. But the Hishimonji had already disbanded and fled from the incoming guards. I was captured and jailed. They didn't want to kill me just yet. The guards like it when girls are imprisoned." finished Mana with a slight twitch in her jaw as she clenched at the suppressed violent memories, "I was in there for maybe two years, I don't really know. But today, the guard forgot to lock the door. And you know what happened next. And yet I still failed to kill that pathetic scum of the earth!"

Tomo didn't like the rabid look in her eyes, like an animal's. A girl whose life revolved around revenge, who reveled in violence because that was all she knew. Who probably could not even begin to inject the word peace into her mind and soul. Even know, injured as she was, she was restless, fidgeting and playing with her hair, like a warrior fed up with contentment.

Too many people throughout history had violent turns and disastrous ends because of that look.

"Well…well that's just not right!" declared Naruto, his blue eyes defiant as he shuffled over to sit beside the skinny dirty handicapped girl, "I mean, it's not your fault. You were weak and injured. Next time, when you're better, I'll help you beat up the bad guy. Then you'll be ok."

Mana gazed at him with soulless eyes, but he never looked away until a mirthless smile etched itself on her stony face. "He's not the bad guy and I'm not the good guy…Naruto. He did what benefited him; taking things to make himself feel better. I'm going to kill him to make myself feel better. There is no difference, I am no better than Hijikata."

"But..but…you didn't kill anyone! You didn't starve them to death and steal all their stuff."

"Life isn't symmetrical, Naruto," interrupted Tomo, his eyes harder like flint as he gazed at the smaller child, determined to beat this into his young idealistic mind, "Hijikata did something bad, but Mana didn't do the exact same thing so she's not as bad as him. That is child's talk. You're smarter than that. "

"But, Mana did it because she wanted revenge! That man made her family starve! He deserves to die!" retorted Naruto, his face flush with anger as his eyes glinted ferociously.

Abruptly, the scarred ninja grabbed the smaller boy by the collar of his smudged white T-shirt, forcing his face to stare into his own ruined one with a cruel sneer. The whiskered boy struggled, the iron grip of the veteran shinobi never budged as catlike eyes glinted in the firelight with a dark passionate gaze.

"Who are you to decide what is right, Naruto? If the Hokage took the taxes needed to sustain Konoha, but ended up starving a family to death, should he deserve to die?" retorted Tomo sharply, shaking the young boy hard as their noses almost touched, "Does he? If I killed a man because he stole my money when I was starving for his own starving family, do I deserve to die? DO I?"

Blue eyes shone with incredible fear as the blonde boy shook his head in the negative furiously. The unconscious rage and passion that arose in the wildcat eyes faded as the iron grip slackened until Naruto was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Nausea overtook the smaller boy as the bitter bile of fear and rage at his helplessness resulted in him throwing up in one of the nearby bushes.

Tomo felt the hysterical anger in him melt away as the clouded vision of his rage cleared. What had he done? Shaking his head like a disturbed dog, he gazed at the boy vomiting out his fear, anger, and revulsion from before. He looked at the blue eyes, yellow hair, and contorted features of distress. What had he done?

A soft moan spilled from his lips as he sank to the dust covered floor, his scarred ugly face buried in his calloused hands. He's lost his temper, the one he'd kept a tight rein on for so many years and with a single small argument, it snapped like a rubber band. Was it because the boy looked so much like Minato it hurt? Was it because the boy didn't understand, was so naïve about the world around him, that it made him want to scream? A soft low voice whispered in his ear,

"_I know that the world isn't all good Tomo-kun, but when I become Hokage, I'm gonna make it happen!"_

"Minato…" said Tomoaki softly as he felt heat spilling near the corner of his eyes. Roughly, he wiped them away with a hand as he burrowed into his sleeping bag, forgetting about his duties, surroundings, and plans for his future.

Tonight was his night to grieve for the years he hadn't.

Naruto gasped heavily as he spit the bitter taste out of his mouth. He'd been shocked, hurt, and frightened when his sensei had lost control, but now that it was over and done, his mind thought on the words he'd been told. Everyone did things for survival and there was no white or black.

"_So the people in Konoha didn't like me because they were scared of Kyuubi. Is it really their fault?"_

The whiskered boy jumped as a soft hoarse weeping broke the silence, but artfully ignored it. Trudging back to his sleeping bag, he realized that Mana was still using it. Disgruntled, he lay on a blanket and snuggled close against the elder girl's heat, despite her thin bird frame. Mana hadn't flinched at all during the entire scene and now lay in silence, her brown-red eyes searching his own blue ones.

Mana wanted to kill for the sake of herself, for her own revenge.

He understood now, thought his anger did not lessen. Why weren't things simple. She still did not deserve her cruel past.

He lay down against her thin skeletal frame, ignoring the slight tension of fear, and fell asleep.

Yesssss! I'm dooone! I'm sorry for the delay as school has been pretty hectic and I had a mild case of writer's block. But I think this chapter came out pretty well if I do say so myself. Oh, so a few things to say…

Despite the reviews I've gotten about it, I don't think my story will be ruined if I decide to make it yaoi. I don't like the idea that people will only read a story for a pairing. I hate NaruSaku, but I've read plenty good stories with great plots and ignored the love life. It kinda hurts for people to say they like my story, but then say they won't read it anymore just because it might be yaoi.

For the record, I still don't know if this will be yaoi. I only said that because the girls in Naruto are kinda hard to imagine with the actual Naruto I'm creating. I disapprove of Sakura simply because she's a fangirl. I know she gets better, but her deep rooted love for Sasuke will never fade and I don't want to make this story unrealistic by making her forget him. Hinata is used way too much and she really doesn't have the guts to make a move, even when she's older until her "death." I also don't think that chemistry will work at all between Naruto and Tenten and maybe Ino. But I am debating on the following choices:

-Ino

-Temari

-Shion ( for those who don't know, look it up)

Please tell me which you prefer. There will be yaoi regardless even if Naruto himself is straight as side pairings. Just a warning. Other than that, please continue reading and please review to make my day better .


	4. Chapter 4

King of the Deck: Chapter 4

Naruto shuffled his feet into the wooden floor of the simple house he currently resided in, his belly growling of hunger, having not eaten food for the last 8 hours. It felt odd being in a home after living for so many weeks in the forest, having to kill, skin, and cook his food. He felt wary as he heard the faint murmur of people bustling through the market nearby; it felt odd being so near civilization after weeks of solitude. However, his restlessness was nothing like Mana's.

The girl could simply not stand still, always pacing and having odd habits with her fingers, her lip, or her hair, her stump of a right arm swinging pointlessly. The limb, though not fully healed, was declared stable enough by Mana herself and she had no trouble walking around with a slight unbalance to her step, her body unused to the uneven weight distribution.

But the frantic panic, Naruto noticed with sharp blue eyes, the wild restless look of a caged animal had lessened and a sort of hollow look enter her eyes. She had no purpose in every step she took and no enthusiasm in her sharp jerky movements. This had been going on since several days ago, when Mana had disappeared suddenly into the woods and come back in two hours time…

_-Flashback-_

_They'd searched for two hours; two whole hours in the inky blackness of the shadowy forest. Surprisingly, even Tomo was worried. Her wound was not healed yet, the stump of a right arm barely surviving the operation in the hospital a few miles away. The doctor had stated that though the blood vessels had successfully tied, the nerves and muscles had irreversibly damaged. _

_She could move the stump a bit with her shoulder, but essentially she was carrying around dead weight, not exactly the best tool for a ten-year-old. She was weak, thin, and alone. And she was missing._

"_Mana!" yelled the blonde boy as his blue eyes searched the darkness with a hopeless determination. _

_Silence answered him, the darkness staring into his face like a mask._

_Where could she have gone? She was still at large, at least according to the few travelers who'd left the town. The lord had guards patrolling his castle 24/7 and the people laughed at the fat, indulging man for his paranoia at a 10-year-old. _

_But everyone knew the girl had an indescribable hatred for the lord that was unknown. Everyone had seen it in the town square. Everyone had seen her act like a rabid beast. So in their hearts, no one mocked the fearful man._

_But, Mana was too weak from hunger and blood loss, she couldn't really have gone to get revenge now of all times?_

_Looking into cat-like brown eyes, Naruto knew the answer. Revenge had been her life for three years, how would a mere mile and a few guards stop her? The fear grew, not for the fat lord but for the girl he'd accepted into his life._

_Her odd habits, her restless pacing, her grim solemn smile, and her sharp mournful wit had become part of their group. Only a few hours had passed; he already begun to fear the worst._

_As they drew close to the town, gleaming street lights ahead, there were multiple shouts. Sharp and hoarse as the frantic cries grew._

"_Find her! She cannot escape with this atrocity!"_

"_It'll be our heads!"_

"_It's a little cripple girl! How far could she have gone!"_

_Blue and brown stared at each other with tight-lipped anxiety. She couldn't have…she was too weak, there were too many guards, she would surely be lost forever, thrown into a muddy ditch with her throat slit and her eyes motionless._

"_What are you doing here?" whispered a sharp hoarse whisper behind the both of them, making the two shinobi jump. Well, Tomo flinched. Naruto was the one who jumped nearly clear out of his white and orange striped T-shirt in fright._

_Mana was crouched behind them, her body heaving with labored breaths as her clothes were stained wet with sweat and a darker thicker substance. Her pale sweaty thin face was drawn back and marked with streaks of crimson red. Her left hand clutched a gruesome object._

_Naruto could only look at it for a few nauseating seconds until he ran and threw up in a nearby bushes, the bitter bile cracking the calming air of the night sky. Tomo just stared at her and the thing in her hand dripping blood while Mana looked away in slight shame of her own selfishness._

_The bloody severed head of Lord Hijikata Kotaro was a sharp contrast to the soft grass it lay on. The corpse was pale, but the plump cheeks of the now dead fat old man still dropped. The whites of the eyes had popped blood vessels, staining them a putrid brown while blood, spit, tears, and bodily liquids dripped from the horrendous object. _

_And the only thing Mana did to justify herself was look away. She had taken a selfish thing in the midst of her ambition filled revenge. And now they were going to be followed. The camp would be discovered soon. They would have to leave in the next few days._

_Tomo growled is frustration and annoyance and grabbed the slickened bloody hair of the corpse and threw it into the bushes behind him. Grabbing the girl's bloody hands and the boy's rotten scented T-shirt, the elder scarred shinobi rushed them back to camp, his face tightly drawn, his scar gleaming in the moonlight_

_-End Flashback-_

Dark red brown eyes gazed into his until they again looked away in shame. She felt ashamed of convicting them, for making them run when they were least expecting it, guards on their tail. They had run for a 3 days straight, stopping for quick refills of food and water until finally reaching the border between Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni.

Tomo had been silent, keeping watch for them during restless frightening nights and had not relaxed until he talked to people who had no idea that a murder had even occurred in the far off town of Sohma. The entire time, he'd never talked to the both of them other than with short clipped orders.

Naruto respected Tomo and would follow him anywhere, despite the emotional baggage and the somewhat-tolerated hatred toward his father. But the man could be as moody as a woman on her time of the month.

Naruto really had no idea what the saying meant, but decided that as the Old Man had used it often when a particularly angry woman had come to complain to him about something, the saying was appropriate. But he never said it out loud. Tomo might cuff him over the head.

According to the scarred shinobi, the house belonged to a man named Oshige Izumi, a long-time friend Tomo had made after leaving Konoha. Tomo, who was dozing slightly in the corner on the couch, seemed comfortable, but both Naruto and Mana were restless. It was an awkward and tepid silence.

"Well, it seems Tomo-kun is getting along just fine," said Izumi as he came in with three mugs of hot tea in a plain wooden tray. He was middle-aged, maybe around 40-50 years old with gray sprinkling in his fine black hair. His eyes were narrow like Tomo's, but much less grave and a lighter heather grey with slight wrinkles around them. He was a bit on the shorter side, but stoutly built and had strong hands heavily scared and callused.

"It's been a while since we've been in a house Oshige," remarked Tomo without opening his eyes, "We're tired and the kids are restless."

"Mmhm, because you've been driving them to the brink of exhaustion Tomoaki," said Izumi sternly, shooting the prone shinobi a sharp look, "They are children. They aren't made to stay at a Jonin-like speed for almost 3 days."

"You did…."

"…I was an unusual child though, wasn't I?"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, barging into the conversation with a curious gleam to his eyes, his blonde dirty hair falling into his face.

Izumi, taking first notice of the boy, stared at his with careful eyes, the warmness disappearing as a sharp inquisitive look came upon his wrinkled face.

"What is your name child?"

Naruto could feel Mana tense, far away as she was, and Tomo open his eyes a crack to see what was going on. The tension grew thick enough to cut.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

A long silence followed. A thick deep heavy silence that made everyone, particularly Mana shift in the most uncomfortable manner.

"You would not lie to me boy, now would you? Tell me your name."

"That is my name, Uzumaki Naruto. It's been that way forever."

"Naruto…maelstrom. Uzumaki…spiral…; who is your father Uzumaki Naruto?" 

At this, Naruto really hesitated. He'd been instructed with the utmost strictness to never reveal the identity of his father under any circumstances by the Third. It was the one bit of info that could get him killed and cause trouble. _It must not be known that the Fourth Hokage had a son._

It bothered him, that he could not reveal his heritage to the greatest Hokage in history, at least in his opinion. Even if he had mixed feeling for the man, he could not deny his admiration for the man who'd defended Konoha against the Kyuubi no Yoko. Even Tomo had grudging respect for his teammate, hated as he was. He felt he had some right to be proud of his father.

"He is Minato's brat," with Tomo with undisguised scorn as he gave the whiskered boy a semi-evil look. He held a fondness for the brat now; he'd found a way to worm into his heart after all. But the fact that he looks a whole heck like his father bothered the scarred shinobi to the point he sometimes snapped at the boy.

"Hm…yes there is the resemblance there. The coloring definitely belongs to Yondaime. But Tomo, you who are too blinded by your hatred to a single man did not really look at this boy did you?" stated Izumi calmly as he lifted Naruto's chin up with a finger and smoothened the blonde dirty hair away.

"His cheeks are high as are his forehead. His shoulders are slender and he is short in stature. He is thin and probably will always be; though it is from genes rather than malnourishment that I'm sure you caused trumping through the forest like an animal, and his bones thin, but strong. He is of a completely different build than your beloved Yondaime. You even see some of the Uzumaki coloring in him, do you not Tomoaki?"

"I never knew Kushina," blurted out Tomo, his face had turned a bit harder at the slight sting of an insult that had been thrown in his direction. He wasn't used to taking care of children, how should he have known if they needed something special? He wasn't a person who'd pamper to their every whim.

"Look Shindo Tomoaki, do you not see the red sheen in his hair or the green in his eyes? Did you truly want nothing to do with a man whom you've never really hated so much that you did not understand the boy's heritage from his mother?"

"I didn't give a flying fuck about Kushina or Minato because he destroyed me. He took my life away Oshige. He took my hands from me."

"Do not whine like a spoiled child Tomo, you are a fine shinobi now. You are alive, have two arms and legs, and you are strong enough to overcome your handicaps and gain a reputation."

"**All because I wanted to kill him!"**

The silence after the outburst was deadly. Naruto stared straight into the cat-like brown eyes. He'd wanted to kill his father? He hated him that much…

Did he want to kill Naruto as well for who he was?

"You do not have the motivation to kill Shindo Tomoaki-san," said a hoarse whisper from the corner. All eyes turned to the crippled young girl who until now had been pacing in a rhythmic pattern on the wooden floor with slight chapped feet. But now her eyes burned with a fire as she took a painful breath.

"I know what it is like to have everything taken from me by one man. I hated Hijikata. I wanted him to die. I learned all the Hishimonji gang taught me so that I could one day relish slicing his fat head. I wanted an eye for an eye, to destroy his life as he did mine. But the hatred I felt was burning, blind, and got me truly crippled for life"

Mana's eyes were like pools of blood in the dim lighting of the coming dusk as she spoke hauntingly, her gaunt cheeks still too thin. She looked haggard as her stump flailed pointlessly.

"I do not know why you hate Naruto-san's father. But if you truly hated him, you would want to take everything from him. If you truly hated this Yondaime, you would have wanted to kill Naruto as soon as you found out who he was."

Her voice rang through the silence. Tomo glared at her until his eyes were too tired to focus anymore. He didn't want to believe this girl. He didn't want acknowledge the fact that she was right in his heart.

"You do not have the capability to hate. I do not know if this is a virtue or a vice. But you know in your heart that you will never be able to truly and utterly hate a person." finished Mana, the burning gaze fading as she sunk into the chair she sat in, the fire burning out, leaving only an empty girl.

Her purpose in life was done and she was left with nothing. Izumi gave the girl a tender smile. What she said had struck into Tomo's long guarded heart. Tonight would be a night of learning. For everyone.

Glancing toward the young blonde child, the elder man spoke quietly, "Come with me Uzumaki. I have something to show you."

Giving one last glance at the exhausted duo sitting quietly, thoughtfully in their chairs, Naruto followed, his yellow hair now with a reddish tint in the dusky purple light, his eyes with a glint of haunting green in the dim lighting of the house.

_-Several minutes later-_

Naruto couldn't have said that he was expecting something spectacular when Izumi told him to follow. He surely did not think the man would have some long hidden history of his past or better yet be his long lost uncle/brother/cousin/etc. He didn't expect him to be some mysterious awesome shinobi who was going to teach him a bunch of kick-ass jutsu and train him to be the strongest fighting force on the face of the earth.

But when Izumi led him into a 15 minute walk to a burned and abandoned ruin, the blonde couldn't help but feel his enthusiasm droop a tad bit.

Even in the dim light of dusk, one could tell that there had once been a house, quite the house too, but it'd been burned and shattered so much Naruto could only wonder why anyone kept this crap around. There were no bodies, though a large cluster of white tombstones were nestled nearby, but the stench of rotting wood and crumbling stones was eminent.

Naruto gave Izumi a questioning look, but the elder man just gestured toward the ruin. The blonde huffed and walked deeper into the ruin. There was nothing left except massive splinters of wood and leftover scorched furniture. There was however, one shakily standing complex which probably would have been in the center of the entire house.

It was damaged and rotting, but it held firm as Naruto entered it, merely answering with a weary creak. The inside was less of a mess. The walls were less scorched enough to see the glossy mahogany it should have been, even the giant red spiral marking on the wall was prominent amidst the wreckage; the rooms littered with burned and mildew smelling clothes and bed coverings.

The very last room was in the best condition, almost untouched by the fire except for the giant scorch marks on the floor and a few rotting floorboards. There were even two picture frames.

One was of a small girl, a bit pudgy, maybe 7 or 8, with messy red hair and green marbles for eyes being held up by an older man with the same coloring, a smiling woman by their side.

The other had a woman, perhaps the girl all grown-up, with a man by her side. The girl had lost her pudginess and her hair had grown sleek and long. Her pale face displayed a gentle smile as her hand intertwined with the man's over her bulging stomach.

The man next to her was young and sheepishly smiling at the camera, his tanned face framed with unruly blonde hair and his blue eyes shining with excitement. He looked so familiar, but far too young to be who Naruto thought he would be, until he saw the jacket. A white jacket with flames on the bottom.

His eyes continued to bore holes into the picture hungrily as he realized who this red-headed girl turned woman was, who exactly had that bulging stomach.

"Mother…" whispered Naruto; his blue eyes flashing a melancholy green as he traced the red-headed woman's features.

She was a proud looking woman whose ninja heritage showed in her frame, despite her pregnancy flow. His father seemed a bit boyish; his smiling face and handsome outdoors look making him seem less like a killer and more of a farmhand.

The resemblance between parents and son showed as Naruto looked at the picture, then at the mirror in front of him, studying his face with an intensity he had not ever displayed. Izumi had been right. Despite the obviously unique coloring shared by father and son, up-close, Naruto looked more and more like his mother; a rather feminine touch that he disliked.

Setting the picture down gently, he stared at his mother's untouched room. A fine layer of dust was everywhere, but everything seemed in order and for that he thanked any gods out there.

The slightly rotting wooden closet held a few clothes, only about two sizes too big for him in multiple shapes of blue. It seemed to be his mother's favorite color. There were a pair of fighting slippers that surprisingly fit the small blonde boy well; a darker shade of blue-almost black.

A few rusted kunai were scattered in a corner along with what seemed like what seemed like a multiple amount of untouched yellowing books with various titles: _Shinobi Arts: The Basics, Elemental Chakra, Your First Baby: The Necessary Things._

He continued to look through the drawers, mostly empty. There was what he thought was a silver belt coiled up on the hanger on the wall until he cut his fingers unraveling it. Wincing and wiping the blood on his already dirty shirt, he examined the so –called belt. Two times his length with a leather handle, it gleamed a metallic dull silver and was as flexible as a ribbon.

Coiling it up carefully, but still getting a few nicks on his palms, Naruto glanced at the last few drawers; all empty except for the top drawer in the tiny lamp stand next to the bed. It was filled with old rusting coins, a few bits of string, some rotten kunai polish, and a very old, yellowing, but still intact piece of paper.

The blonde child opened it, unfortunately smearing it a bit with blood, but he could still read the words in handwriting almost as bad as his own.

_My son or daughter,_

_I feel you in my stomach now, kicking away as I write this letter. It's been 5 months and_

_your father is nearly dying with excitement. He wants you to be a boy but of course we_

_will love you no matter what you are. I wonder what you are going to look like. I only_

_hope you don't get my red hair otherwise you might be called "tomato head" like I was._

_Or that you don't get Minato's absurdly annoying height. Your father is too tall for his_

_own good. Your grandparents are just as excited for their first grandchild. I know you_

_are going to be a great person, whether you are a ninja or not. Just remember that both_

_your father and I love you. You have Uzumaki blood in you; you are a whirlpool of_

_potential. I can only pray you decide your future wisely. I love you, my son or daughter,_

_and I know you will become someone I will be proud of._

_All my love,_

_Uzumaki Kushina_

After an hour, Uzumaki Naruto had yet to emerge and when a worried Izumi had rushed in, he found the boy on knees in that old rotten forgotten room, his hands bleeding, sobbing over an old yellowing letter.

The elder man didn't ask, but merely helped the boy up and carried the various things that the boy wanted to take back: the blue-black slippers, a dark blue Chinese robe, several books, and the silver "belt."

However, the blonde boy never let go of the yellow paper, smeared with his tears and blood. His eyes now flashed into an evergreen. They never seemed so blue after that night.

It was a night of learning for everyone. Mana learned peace of mind. Tomoaki learned truth. And Naruto? His mother's words could speak for themselves. He was destined for greatness.

Author's Note

DONE! Ah, I'm so happy! I'm very sorry for the extremely late update but I've had finals to worry about and now I'm working on an internship so I've had a lot to do! '

To clear things up: I hope I didn't make Mana to all-knowing. I just made her the perspective one. She understands people better than most because though her life is not as Uchiha-tragic as most, it's made her more aware of people's inner values.

Tomo is a complicated person and I'm having a bit of trouble with him. He hates Minato, but cannot hate him fully. Killing Minato was his drive, but ultimately made his stronger. He also does have handicaps, but they haven't shown up since he's fought only one battle against a group of non-shinobi. I'll see what I can do about him.

I made Naruto a little OOC, but this is where he starts to grow up. He's realized the risks of being a shinobi, the fact that there is no good or evil, and the fact that he is destined for greatness. These things are what shape him. His character, hopefully, won't be too different from the original. He is my biggest headache now….sigh

Oshige Izumi is really nothing. He will probably pop up a little, but is really of no importance. He was just kind of there to take Naruto to the Uzumaki compound. Hahaha…

I know I've complained about it a lot, but is there really a problem with Naruto being gay? I mean, I'm not calling anyone a homophobe or whatever, but judging by how this is going, I doubt that Naruto will be interested in females. At the very least, he might be bi. I personally enjoy either a straight or yaoi Naruto but if it's making people not want to read my story, it makes me feel bad. A lot of people have complemented my story, but say they're not reading it anymore because of yaoi…It makes me feel pressured to change my story for that sake but I really don't want to….ah, well, I'll just go with the flow.

I have a new idea for a story! It's been bothering me all week so I decided to try it out, but I'm still working on it. It's a Harry Potter/Naruto crossover so I hope people will like it when I'm done!

Review please! It'd make my day!


	5. Chapter 5

King of the Deck: Chapter 5

Tall dark figures are never a sign of good fortune; never ever ever…and fate was not excepting Sarutobi Hiruzen from this stereotype. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply, inhaling another eye-watering breathe of tobacco, desperately trying to ignore the figure in front of him.

Maybe this was a bad dream and he'd wake up to find his wife making breakfast for him and his grandson greeting him with a smile.

A deep throaty cough dashed those hopes to the ground and utterly pulverized them.

"You do know how much paper work your request would entail on my part?" asked Sarutobi, glaring at the figure in front of him, "and how much I'll have to talk to the council? And how much of a headache I'll get. Oh, did I mention how old I am for this stuff?"

"They are not going to destroy the village," muttered the tall dark figure, shifting his clock uncomfortably, "All they want is to move in and take the chunin exams."

"You and I both know that Konoha cannot take in random foreign shinobi and instantly make them into ninja," retorted the Hokage, his glare deepening as he also stared at the stack of papers on his desk. It was going to grow if he gave in, he must not give in!

"Well one of them isn't completely random and/or foreign."

"So? He's been absent for seven years! I cannot take someone who left our village for seven years and instantly make him a genin allowed to enter the exams with a wave of my hat!"

"Er….its wave of your wand."

"You know what I mean! I refuse! I want to go home and see my wife and family for the next two days you do know that right? I do have a life!"

A heavy silence engulfed the both of them as a battle of the will ensured. One fought with calm superiority of his success while the other desperately tried not to give in to a losing fight. No, no, no he would not give in goddamn it! He would not, will not! Think of home. Think of your wife and grandson. Think, think, think!

It went on for a minute, or two, or three, or four…

Until the elder man heaved a heavy sigh as he gave in. The hooded man smiled wickedly and strode out of the office, mentally congratulating himself and going off to buy himself a drink.

Meanwhile, the Hokage glared at the door that closed with a small thud. Of course he was happy that the boy was back. Of course he was happy that the child had grown experienced enough to enter the chunin exams. If anything, he was intensely excited to see how strong the boy had gotten under his reluctant teacher!

But he was not happy that he was so not going home tonight. Mentally weeping tears of despair, the elderly man settled himself in for a few sleepless nights.

He hated his life so very much.

=LINE BREAK=

-Three days later, end of the Second Exam-

A heavy scowl adorned Uchiha Sasuke's handsome face as he massaged the piercing soreness that attacked the juncture between his neck and shoulders, cursing slightly as he glared at the people surrounding him. The incessant chattering of his pink-haired teammate was grating on his nerves as usual and the insufferable blonde _would not get off his goddamn arm!_

He would have screamed in frustration but he was an Uchiha. Uchiha do not scream. Even if they really really really want to.

So since he couldn't very well main his teammate nor scream his frustration verbally, he resorted to his Uchiha glare time. The target: his other teammate, Mikuno Kenji? Or was it Kepai? Maybe it was Kero? Ugh he really didn't care. The only thing the poor excuse of a teammate was good for was to glare at for his own amusement. Of course, having the poor boy be utterly terrified of the Uchiha had its merits.

His frown deepened however as the sharp nagging pain shot through him yet again. He'd had yet to see the damage, but according to Haruno, there was some sort of mark where he'd been…bitten for a lack of a better word. A branding of sorts. Sasuke growled. _No one_ marked the Uchiha.

Kakashi had taken one look and told him to stay put, his normally goofy exterior going unusually grave. That alone gave the air of seriousness. That didn't stop the Uchiha from nearly burning a hole through the wall as he sat in the waiting room, watching more and more teams pass the Second Exam.

He was momentarily jarred from his musing when he heard Haruno shout, gosh she did that a lot, "What did you say?" He turned and saw his teammate staring murderously at a girl nearly a good head taller than her, Ino backing her up for once.

"I said," retorted the girl with a rude sneer curling her lips, "Some of us in this room are actually _competent_ shinobi and don't need _children_ screaming their heads off when they need rest from an exam they got through _without pure dumb luck_."

"Well excuse us! When did you get the right to butt into conversations like this?"

"Since I decided you are an annoying nuisance that need to shut up before I separate your head from your shoulders!"

Sasuke ignored the bantering between the two, but took careful notice of the girl. She was indeed taller than all of the rookies, even Shino who was the tallest, so she had to be a few years older than them. She had a hard angular face with sharp features that weren't pretty, but had its own attractive charm. Her eyes were oddly colored: a reddish brown color like bricks. Dark brown hair was cut unevenly and messily to her shoulders, like it'd been sliced with a kunai. She was too skinny, her arms and legs from what he could see were thin and looked breakable even though there was a slight trace of muscle. She wore a deep red kimono-like tunic with oversized sleeves that ended above her knees, black shorts underneath. The black sash was tied tight around a tiny waist and simple black shinobi sandals. The thing that commanded the most attention was the katana strapped to her back, which seemed to overtake her in size, making her seem all the more fragile.

She was worth noting, but hardly a challenge in Uchiha Sasuke's book. Since having really nothing to challenge him in the Academy and onward, he'd taken to noting his peers and their potential. In other words, he was bored.

"Well I have a right to say what I want!"

"Not if you're a sissy-ass loser of a shinobi who's more obsessed with her hair than her skills!"

"Mana-chan. Stop. Now," said a soft voice from behind the group.

The tall girl, Mana apparently, scowled, but complied. Giving Sakura one last dirty look, she strode over to the owner of the voice, muttering vague curses under her breath.

The voice apparently belonged to a boy, perhaps around Sasuke's age. He was about three centimeters shorter than the Uchiha himself, making him one of the shorter boys in the group, and the fact wasn't helped by how slender he was for a boy as well as seemed to have absolutely no muscle from what could be seen. Not to say he was fat, on the contrary he had a sharp pointed chin and well-defined bones, his eyes wide and an odd blueish-green. Deep blonde hair brushed his collarbone and was half heartedly tied back, revealing three marks on each cheek, making the boy seem a bit animalistic, like Inuzuka. He wore a light blue Chinese robe, a slit of the sides to show the darker navy pants underneath. A dull metallic looking sash wrapped his waist many times and tiny feminine slippers adorned his feet. He didn't look like a shinobi at all.

"You didn't have to butt in moron," said Mana as she poked the side of the blonde's head in annoyance. The blonde boy merely smiled and bowed at the rookies.

"I apologize for my teammate. She's…a little high strung you could say." That earned him another cuff on the head. The boy pouted like a child.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as a small tingle nudged the back of his mind. The boy seemed familiar, very familiar, yet he couldn't place his finger on it.

"…_will you come back?"_

"_Maybe."_

He shook his head furiously, making people stare at him. Where the hell had that thought come from. His resolve hardened. The Uchiha stood and looked down at the blonde.

"What's your name?" he asked arrogantly, his voice the perfect epitome of the pride that was Uchiha, making both Sakura and Ino swoon in the back. He noticed that the blonde's face fell, his bangs covering his eyes a bit, his happy expression crumpling like dust. But in a second, it was pasted back onto his face as the boy smiled politely and replied,

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you Uchiha Sasuke."

Dark eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?"

The blonde, Uzumaki, smiled a dopey smile that irritated the raven-haired shinobi, "Who doesn't know the last Uchiha?" Was that sarcasm he detected? Or was he simply stating facts…

"Where are you from Uzumaki?"

"Ah come now Uchiha-san, surely you recognize the sign of your own village," remarked Uzumaki in his annoyingly irritatingly stupid voice that seemed to radiate a quiet stupidity. He tapped the hitaite wrapped around his leg and Sasuke was irritated to see that indeed, the leaf emblem was embedded proudly into the metal. Now that he noticed, Mana too had one wrapped around her right arm near her shoulder.

"Wait a second," interrupted Sakura as she pointed accusingly at the blonde, "You're barely as old as us! But we never saw you in the Academy! How can you be a leaf shinobi?"

Again, that dark look of apprehension and…nostalgia crossed the blonde's face. The smile morphed into a quiet scowl for only two seconds. But Sasuke noticed. He _always_ noticed everything.

"Ah Haruno-san, I was tutored by a private teacher for personal reasons outside of the village and only just recently arrived back in Konoha for the exams.'

A flash of jealous rage entered the shinobi genius. He'd been _what?_ Here he was, the last Uchiha, stuck with an incompetent pervert for a sensei and two useless teammates while this nobody, this stupid _dobe_ had been trained by a _personal tutor?_

"Naruto, we gotta go," interrupted Mana, her lips forming a sneer in Sakura's direction, "Katsu is waiting." Giving the two members of team 7 a once over, she added, "We don't have time to waste with these novices."

The two genin boiled in anger, even Sasuke's race turned rage red, when Naruto replied "Aah, ok. It was nice meeting you Uchiha-san. Haruno-san. Good luck in the exams."

The two left, both walking with quick shuffling steps, their feet sweeping out under them. Sasuke would have asked about it, but he was too busy stewing over the idea of being called a _novice._ Sakura then pulled out of her anger enough to make a good point, making Sasuke all the more suspicious of the stupid blonde.

"Ah…I never told him my name…How did he know my last name was Haruno?" 

=LINE BREAK=

Sarutobi sighed, smoking into his pipe deeply as he rubbed at his poor weary eyes. He hadn't slept in two days. He'd signed at least a hundred papers, argued against a thousand complaints, and drunken at least a million cups of coffee. He was dead tired and looked it too. However, now was not the time.

He only half-heartedly listened as Gekko Hayate explained the rules of the semi-finals, his deep brown eyes searching through the throng of genin. Finally, he managed to grab at a crop of wonderfully golden hair and gave a small smile as he studied the boy he'd missed for seven long years.

Naruto seemed to have grown too fast, even if he was still a tiny boy by shinobi standards, and was standing proud and tall beside his two teammates. The elderly man noted that his successor had breed well as both his and Kushina's features shone brightly from the young ninja's face, making him smile bittersweetly. If life was fair, Minato should have been in this seat, holding up a strong front, but fretting over his son all the same.

"You did well with him Tomoaki."

The grizzled sharp shinobi to his right gave a curt nod, his features hidden by his ever the same dark green cloak. But even Sarutobi could see the slight anxiety in the shinobi's cattish golden brown eyes as he checked over his students, noting any minor injuries. He had a much deeper tie with his team than any other jonin sensei.

Most genin cell squads were usually broken up when all were promoted to chunin, which usually occurred about three to four years after genin graduation. Yet Tomo had spent seven years with them. He was, though he would beat up the old man, Hokage or not, if he ever said this, like an overprotective mother hen. The Sandaime chuckled, earning him an odd look from Tomo.

Looking to the genin again, he noted that several dropped out already: 2 from Ame, 1 from Taki, 2 from Kiri, and even 1 from Iwa. 3 from Konoha dropped out : including Yakushi Kabuto, for the 8th time, and Mikuno Kento from Team 7. Kento looked like he was going to faint, his round boyish face was very pale. Yet Kabuto looked perfectly fine, yet he again forfeited another chance to become genin. Sarutobi sighed but Tomo's eyes narrowed.

"Yakushi Kabuto, he'd failed the Chunin exams 7 years in a row?" 

"Yes, unfortunately, the boy simply gives up way too easily. I do not understand him at all."

"_I think I understand him perfectly,_" thought Tomo as the grey-haired genin left, fixing his glasses, a slight smile on his face, "_Yes, I think I understand him quite well."_

=LINE BREAK=

Sasuke Uchiha glared at weak male teammate sniveled off pathetically, his round face covered with dirt and sweat. He'd never liked the boy, always a nervous wreck of a shinobi, despite his semi-decent skills in taijutsu and a bit of genjutsu. Even if he'd snorted at the idea of a team, Sasuke had at the very least entertained the idea of a rival, someone to keep him up to par and make sure he wasn't slacking off in pursuit of his goal. Not that he was, but it'd been nice if he'd had a strong teammate. He was sorely disappointed.

He gave a quick glance to his female teammate, who was trembling slightly, but standing firm, her long pink hair, despite the layer of dirt, a rather annoying shade. Sasuke actually respected Sakura a smidge more for not quitting on him, he'd gotten nerves when she'd nearly raised her hand in the first exams, but still thought her as an unnecessary liability.

She never trained, even when Kakashi had offered to teach her more chakra-control techniques on their training days, she'd declined in favor of trailing him like the Inuzuka's mutt. Even if she'd managed to not get herself killed by the mysterious Kusa kunoichi, she had, according to Kenpai or whatever his name was, merely stood in horror as Rock Lee and his teammates, in an uncanny bout of heroics, defeated the Oto shinobi. She was nothing to him.

As the participants were dismissed to go to the upper balcony for the selections, his eyes yet again fell upon the blonde…Naruto. His golden-blonde hair swayed with every step he took and Sasuke found it annoying. In fact, just everything about the blonde from his civilian-ish outfit to his dopey smile to his absurdly calm voice just managed to piss him off.

His dark onyx eyes glared daggers into the smaller boy until he abruptly turned, swirling blue-green eyes drowning his own conscience. The blonde gave a sweet smile, making him seem rather childish, serving to irate the Uchiha even more. He all but stomped up to the balcony and glared at the selection board. Gritting his teeth, he tried to ignore the burning sensation in the back of his head and the pit of his stomach: one from a pair of blue-green eyes staring at him, the other from an odd sensation he'd never felt before.

=LINE BREAK=

Uzumaki Naruto sighed as his old classmate glared, yet again, daggers at his head. It seems that 7 years had not changed his insipid ability to piss Uchiha off. Hm, perhaps it was hereditary? He wondered if his father had ever pissed off an Uchiha.

He regretted thinking of this as an image of a smiling young man came into his mind, grinning; his arm around his wife's pregnant belly.

He was pushed out of his musing quite literally as Mana poked him in the back of the head again, a rather annoying habit she'd gotten.

"Don't daydream. You might get killed here Naruto."

Naruto smiled lazily, his face the epitome of a goofy teenager, "Aw, is Mana-chan worried about little old me?" That comment earned him another blow to the head.

Next to the one-sided bickering, their third and youngest teammate, Akaito Katsushiro gave an inaudible sigh, before looking up and into the eyes of golden-brown eyes that surely weren't there before.

Tomo grabbed his two elder genin by the head and banged them together, earning them both sharp red marks on their foreheads.

"What the hell was that for Tomo-sensei!" yelled Mana as she rubbed her head, her scowl even deeper in her pale thin face. She still and always would respect Tomoaki for saving her. He was, scarily enough, some sort of role model for her. But unfortunately, when she'd hit her teenage years, 7 years of traveling with only testosterone filled males for company had made her loud and rather crude.

"You are acting like children."

"You know, in all technicality, we are children."

"Shut up Naruto."

"Just stating facts Mana-chan."

"Mah, sorry to interrupt," said a lazy drawl of a voice as Hatake Kakashi walked up to the bickering genin squad, "Mind if we join you over here? The other balcony is kind of full."

Mana looked over and catching glimpse of the pink-haired kunoichi beside him immediately shook her head in the negative.

"Mana-chan, be nice."

"I am not letting _brats_ like her stand here and _yell _at every fight."

"Says the girl who was acting like quite the child several minutes ago."

Mana growled, but crossed her thin arms across her chest, which Sakura noted with slight vicious satisfaction was on the small side, and scowled again.

Naruto ignored his sulking teammate and smiled, "Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Kakashi blinked but softened and gave an eye smile. God, maybe he was getting too used to his own team's rudeness to comprehend actual civil behavior. Having some kid act like a normal polite human being was a refreshing.

"Hatake Kakashi"

Maybe Sasuke could learn from this kid. He seemed nice enough, despite the odd shade of hair. That certain shade of golden yellow which was most uncommon in the Land of Fire. The one eyed jonin ignored the slight clench of his heart at the sight of it. It looked so familiar. So very familiar that it hurt. And the name…the name didn't help matters either. But the masked shinboi pushed it aside and forced himself to smile under his mask.

"Oh yea, these are my teammates: Sakata Mana and Akaito Katsu. Oh, and my sensei-"

"Shindo Tomoaki"

Kakashi's single black eye narrowed as he lowered his orange book, a tense silence enveloping the two teams.

Tomo looked completely unfazed as he stared straight on at Kakashi, his cattish eyes with a predatory gleam in his eye as his right hand twitched ever so slightly.

Sasuke took no notice however as he began his favorite pastime and examined…Katsu was it? The boy was only a centimeter shorter than the blonde and looked younger, perhaps 13, so he'd probably outgrow Naruto in few years, Sasuke relished this thought a bit unnecessarily. He had fair skin, contrasting deeply with the more tanned skin of his teammates and sensei, but wasn't Uchiha pale. He had strands of honey-brown hair framing his face, the front bangs and locks much longer than the short cropped back, and wide childish eyes that were a bottle green, perhaps two shades lighter than Haruno's. He wore dark colors: a black wife-beater and shorts with a hunter green hooded jacket that came to his thighs, marked with numerous pockets. He had the standard shinobi black sandels and gloves as well as his Konoha hitaite in a very strange place: wrapped around his mouth like a bit.

Said Uchiha would not stop glaring at the blonde boy venomously, causing Tomo's eyes to twitch.

"Geez, what's gotten this kid's panties in a bunch?"

Both Sasuke and Sakura turned red and started sputtering at the rude comment while Kakashi inwardly chuckled.

Tomo took no notice and glared at the Uchiha, who didn't shrink, but flinched nonetheless as the intimidating shinobi with his frightening scars came into his face.

"Uchiha, always acting like they're the kings of the world. Let me tell you Uchiha-brat, don't you ever look at me or my students with such disrespect or I'll be sure to make you not be able to see at all.

That was all he needed, a subtle push to remind Uchiha to mind his manners. And Tomo always liked to go a little farther with his threats.

Sasuke scowled, but said nothing, insinuating his agreement.

Their meeting was shortly broken up as the selection board began to blink faster and harder until…

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Masago Kyo"

Normally, Sasuke would have smirked in a self-satisfactory manner for going first against a larger and probably somewhat more skilled shinobi in the mere semi-finals, but he scowled as he started to leave, his ebony eyes boring holes into the large shinobi in front of him.

"Sasuke," called the one-eyed shinobi before the Uchiha genius went down, "Remember, no chakra."

Sasuke grunted.

"Hajime!"

The Uchiha wasted no time attacking with a flurry of punches, managing to land a bruise or two before Kyo, gritting his teeth, swung back from defensive mode and slammed his fist into the smaller boy's right temple.

Dazed, Sasuke wobbled a tiny bit on his feet from the dizziness, giving Kyo just enough time to launch him into the air with a well placed upward kick, jumping up after him to give him a blow downward.

Sasuke snarled as he felt a familiar jolt of pain as the black markings formed around his face and left arm, but he pushed it aside, making them forcibly recede with a sharp inhale of pain, as if a punishment for not using that limitless power he'd experienced in the Forest of Death. He would not lose to some ingrate from another village, despite him handicap of not being able to use chakra.

His strong foot swinging downward on the soaring Uchiha form, Kyo was far too late in realizing he'd smashed a log to the floor. Still in the air, he rapidly turned around and around until he felt an ominous presence above him,

"_Shi Shi Rendan!"_

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!"

Both Sakura and Ino cheered rather loudly as even some of the jonin were impressed that he could finish the match so fast, Rookie of the Year or not. Sasuke himself however, scowled as he felt the tender bruises forming on his arms and shoulders, as well as the nasty one on his temple. God, he was so pathetic in getting so beat up by such a _loser_.

Again he felt that familiar tingling of the power seeping under his skin from the mark on his neck, calling him, begging him to simply use a tiny portion of it and feel the undefeatable might that he inherited with his name of Uchiha.

Truth be told, he almost gave in, almost, he was so very close that the black markings actually spread a little more than before from his neck, the three comma-like markings growing darker. However, onyx eyes caught blue-green as Naruto stared on with interest at the raven-haired shinobi. Sasuke smirked and strode back up the stairs and avoided being fussed over by the Haruno, his eyes only focused on Naruto. He'd never met the boy, but he could not deny the surge of self-satisfaction when Naruto looked on him with interest, even if he was just a foolish _dobe_.

Several matches passed by uneventfully, noted Naruto, as he twirled a lock of his golden hair around his pointer finger. Nara Shikamaru dominated against a weak Oto kunoichi and Akamichi Choji foolishly failed against his own Oto opponent. The match between Aburame Shino and the last, horribly crippled, Oto shinobi had been short, but bloody when the boy's arms had literally blown themselves apart. The Suna kunoichi and the Konoha kunoichi had by far had the most exciting match and both had shown considerable skill. The same however could not be said for Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino who were fighting just about now. Currently, Ino, in a last hasty move, had struck the pink-haired shinobi and forced her to forfeit.

Beside him, Mana snorted rather unlady like and even Katsu had a slight disapproving look on his blank face. Naruto remembered the pretty girl he'd had a crush on when he'd been six and sure enough, Sakura had grown into a pretty teenager. But she was not fit to become a shinobi, judging from her lack of self-confidence to her dependency for approval, especially from the Uchiha. However, noted Naruto as Ino bragged about winning while Sakura slumped to the ground in tears, Yamanaka wasn't all that better. Though she came from a prestigious clan, she had no right to call herself a proper shinobi. So deep was he into his thoughts that he almost missed the next announcement.

"Next match: Sakata Mana vs. Koryuu Mitsuru

Mana smirked as her opponent: an arrogant looking pale-haired boy from Kusa , lept into the ring, pounding his fists together in excitement.

"Good luck Mana-chan!"

"It'll be over in 10 minutes, trust me."

Katsu held flashed ten fingers twice to indicate he thought 20 minutes. Glaring and cursing under her breath slightly, Mana ruffled both boys' hairs and left into the ring, unhooking her katana from her sheath from her back, getting into position at which Mitsuru snorted.

"Pathetic…I have to fight a girl! This is a waste of my abilities!"

Mana scowled as she shifted her weight and crouched down, pulling her left arm back so the tip of the blade was only a few inches past her face. Her right arm however, remained strangely limp.

"Hajime!"

Immediately, Mana struck as she dashed forward, her katana sharply jabbing itself forward into the right shoulder of the Kusa shinobi before he had time to blink. Eyes wide with shock, Koryuu's face melted into a single block of wood.

Smirking, the real one took made half a dozen handsigns, "_Doton: Toge no Ryu no Jutsu!"_

The earthen floor of the arena convulsed as numerous razor sharp spikes suddenly shot up randomly.

Mana herself got several sharp cuts, including a rather deep one that ripped off her right sleeve.

Panting slightly, she remained weaved within the earth spikes, her reddish-brown eyes narrowed in anger as her sleeve flapped pointlessly, the tattered remains showing her stump of a right arm.

Many people in the audience shifted with an unanimous uncomfortable thought, but it was ultimately Sakura who voiced it.

"Ha, I knew she was only talking big! She's never going to win this match!"

Tomo's cattish eyes grew a slight glint as he turned away from the match and lowered himself to Sakura's level, "And pray tell Sakura-san, why is that?"

Kakashi stiffened, his hand lowering his trademark orange book toward his kunai case, just to be sure.

However, even Sakura now got the message as she suddenly stuttered, "Um…well…it's just…never mind Tomoaki-sensei"

"I assume you meant to refer to Mana-chan's handicap so to say," interrupted Naruto, gently pushing his over-protective sensei away from the frightened girl, turning toward Team Kakashi with a gentle smile. It however, screamed of a sarcastic forced sort of kindness that made them feel very uncomfortable.

"Mana-chan lost her arm when she was very young, but has made many strides to strengthen her left arm, especially in the art of _kenjutsu_. Please do not underestimate her by shallow eyes alone Sakura-san," murmured Naruto, his eyes the only part of his smiling face that glittered with malice.

Sakura nodded dumbly, edging herself away from the weird team.

Kakashi relaxed, thanking whoever was up there that Team Tomo had a nice civilized peacemaker in the group, but gave a sharp glance to Tomo, who ignored him. His lip under the mask twitched in irritation. The nerve of that insipid man…after all this time just to…

"Oh this is just degrading now, first a girl, now a _crippled_ girl. God, don't tell me your mentally retarded now!" complained Konyuu.

Mana snorted and positioned her blade downward, her elbow in and her legs spread apart.

"_Chi-Ryu Jin-En-Bu!"_

Sweeping around her in a single sharp circle, it looked as if nothing had happened. Until suddenly lined started appear in the spikes around her, as if sliced in half by a sharp blade and all began to crumble, forcing both Mana and Koryuu to jump out of the way of the deadly falling pieces of stone.

"Bitch!" yelled Koryuu, his eyes flashing as he realized he was fighting no weak shinobi, "_Doton: Tame Benso Doton Yoroi no Jutsu."_

Pieces of earth immediately morphed into what looked almost like samurai armor and covered the boy, leaving almost no space for a blade to be able to get through. The Kusa shinobi laughed, not bothering to dodge the falling earthen spikes anymore, which now bounced harmlessly off his armor.

"Hey worthless, try your fancy sword tricks now!"

Mana frowned and again speeded forward, making a few lackadisdal slashes at his armor, which made no marks or nicks whatsoever. Her brow furrowing, she ignored his triumphant laughter and and jumped a few feet back and stood all the more still, except she began to bounce a bit on her feet. First the right, than the left.

Koryuu smirked and yelled, "See? My armor's unbeatable against your useless sword! This match is over, now! _Doton: Yuuen Hebi Tsuchi no Jutsu!"_

Opening his mouth, he shot out a blast of earth, which took form of a giant snake with huge fangs, which immediately flew toward the solitary figure before it. Then entire audience thought the same thing.

"Is she giving up, get out of the way you idiot!" yelled Ino from the other side of the ring, but her anger at the girl's apparent idiodicy faded as she noticed the smirk on Mana's face as she suddenly stopped boucing on her feet.

"Ah…"muttered Tomo, crossing his hands, his scarred face threatening to crack into a small smile, "She is using _Tentou Souchi _so soon?"

"This boy is a hard opponent, and I doubt she would want to use the other technique just yet," retorted Naruto, his fingers tapping on the railing, "This match is over."

Sasuke looked over, about to protest, but a gasp from Sakura to his right made him turn back.

Just as the snake had bared its fangs about to devour the girl, she had disappeared without a trace, even the tell-tale sign of smoke of a Shunshin wasn't apparent. Confusion melt into awe as the earthen Snake was suddenly diced into several pieces before crumbling to dust.

"What the fu-!" shrieked Koryuu until he heard a voice overhead,

"_Suzuka: Rolling Thunder,"_

In an instant, the Kusa ninja's head was slammed down by the hilt of a blade. Mana then turned onto the floor, flipped and allowed her foot to jab him under the chin right on the neck, effectively knocking the boy out.

"Winner: Sakata Mana!"

Only a few scattered bits of applause were awarded, but the majority was silent until Rock Lee yelled, "WHAT A YOUTHFUL DISPLAY OF TAIJUTSU! NOT A SINGLE NINJUTSU IN THE ENTIRE MATCH!"

Mana snorted and walked back up, her head thrown back in obvious pride, her stump of a right arm swaying with her movements. Katsu ran up to his teammate and eye-smiled, gently wiping away the blood from the several cuts she'd gotten until Mana shoved him away with an awkward sheepish expression.

Naruto smiled and looked over at the board, and his smile faded into a frown.

"The next match will be Akaito Katsuhiro vs. Sakabu no Kankuro"

Said Kaito himself stiffened as well as bottle-green eyes watched the arrogant figure of the Suna shinobi stride down into the arena, which was still rather banged up from Koryuu's multiple earth attacks.

Tomo's own brow furrowed as he leaned down and whispered into his youngest student's ear, "_Remember, do not remove your headband unless absolutely necessary."_

Katsu nodded and jumped into the ring, looking rather small next to the larger more intimidating boy with the face paint.

"Hajime!"

Immediately, Kankuro lept a few feet backwards and threw some kunai rather lazily, his sharp black eyes studying the smaller boy in front of him. Katsu's own eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, but he took no time in making several handsigns before pointing his pointer and middle finger at the Suna puppetear and shooting shots of lightning from the tips of his fingers.

Kankuro managed to dodge the first one and the second one, before the third one managed to slam into his face, suddenly the crackling smell of ozone and burning flesh filling the air. Staring at the smoking figure, something nagged at Katsu's conscience as he strode over with a kunai for the finishing blow when a pair of wooden arms encircled his frail body and tightened its iron grip, the flesh off "Kankuro's face" melting off to reveal the grotesque wooden face of one of his puppets.

The arena heard vague chuckling before the banages that surrounded the package of the pupettear;s beack unraveled to reveal the real Kankuro.

"This is pathetic, I have to fight a kid. Ugh, this is a complete waste of my time," groaned Kankuro before streatching his arms wide and controlling the puppet's limbs to squeeze tighter and tigheter, making Katsu cringe and hiss, but never scream as an audible crack sounded.

"Heh, his spinal cord is in pieces, it's over Procter," muttered Kankuro, seemingly disappointed, moving to pack up his puppet until he realized he couldn't move, not even one inch, his arms seemingly tied up in their position from before.

"What the hell!"

Suddenly a breathy voice sounded by his ear, a voice so soft yet beautiful, the sound of what he was sure was an angel's voice, uttered something that chilled his body, despite the utter beauty of the voice.

"I've got you."

=LINE BREAK=

Author's Note: I'm really really really (etc.) sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I've had major writer's block not to mention my SATs are coming up, so I've had a lot of stress in my life, but I'm so glad I got this done.

This chapter was actually very hard for me. Even I'm not to sure how this is all going to work out, but I'm crossing my fingers. Forgive the lack of the rest of Rookie 12, they'll come sooner or later. Also, I hope that Naruto and Sasuke aren't too OOC. They've changed without each other, but still have the same qualities. A few things: Sasuke does not remember Naruto. In fact no one really does since he left fairly young when no one knew him more than the class clown. Also, I am not bashing Sakura. I believe that without Naruto to always back her up with self-esteem problems, Sakura would not be the same person she is in the actual series. I don't particularly like her, but I'm not going to bash her.

Akaito is my third OC whose importance will be shown in the next chapter. I actually kind of love him and hope everyone will too.

Thanks, and please review!

Jutsu:

_Chi-Ryu Jin-En-Bu:_ Earth Dragon Circular Attack Dance

_Doton: Toge no Ryu no Jutsu: _Earth Style: Spine of the Dragon no Jutsu

_Doton: Tame Benso Doton Yoroi no Jutsu : Earth Style:Ultimate Defense Earth Bound Armor no Jutsu_

_Doton: Yuuen Hebi Tsuchi no Jutsu: Earth Style: Grand Snake of the Earth_

_Tentou Souchi: Heaven's Steps _


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Like I said before, I've had school and terrible writers block, part of why I haven't updated in forever. But I'm on spring break now so I think I can squeeze in a chapter or two. But I'm happy that people like my story, since it's my first story, I'm kind of encouraged. Enjoy the next chapter people!

=LINE BREAK=

King of the Deck: Chapter 6

Sakabu no Kankuro broke out in a cold sweat as he lay motionless, pathetically helpless upon the floor, with the honey-haired child hovering over him. The boy had pulled down his leaf hitaite slightly with his right hand, showing his plain normal seeming mouth. The boy smiled, a simple smile, but it chilled the sand puppeteer

"I've got you," repeated the heavenly voice, so quietly that no one but the puppeteer and the proctor could hear. Katsu smiled and raised his hands, showing the metal steel strings wrapped around his fingers, "Kai."

Breaking the illusion he himself had set up, Katsu's smile grew exponentially as everyone else's eyes, including Kankuro's, grew wide at the intricate web of steel string that surrounded the arena, like a spider's web, glinting in the harsh lighting.

"How…how did he do all this? In such little time?" stuttered Sakura, staring in disbelief at the glittering razor-sharp strands that surrounded them, reaching out to brush off one hovering dangerously close to her left bared shoulder. A tanned hand grabbed her slender pale wrist, twisting his ease through the forest of steel strands.

"The strands are coated with potent snake venom from Suna no Kuni. Once the string cuts your flesh, the venom will infect you."

Sakura gulped and nodded, her large green eyes looking less disbelieved more so than fearful, looking down at the honey-haired boy down in the arena, still looking down with his Cheshire smile at the struggling Suna shinobi.

"We never saw his do this! He cannot possibly be so fast as to do this in 2 minutes, even under the guise of genjutsu," retorted Sasuke, his dark eyes glaring angrily at the blonde genin. The irritation grew at the slight tender look he saw him give the pink-haired worthless kunoichi he had been paired with. He shook his head as he searched into himself.

What was he feeling? Anger, frustration, reluctant admiration, and even, though he hated to admit it, a want to be…recognized. He felt a connection to the blonde, like a memory from long ago. Like an old long lost friend.

"…_will you come back?"_

"_Maybe."_

The last Uchiha was jarred out of his musing however as Tomo's rough voice pierced his memories.

"Katsuhiro was my find in Tsuchi no Kuni. He is a natural in the shinobi arts, particularly genjutsu. No one can match his skill with illusions. The steel poison string is also something of his creation," said Tomo, his scarred face slightly less fierce as he looked down at his third and youngest student with a fond expression.

"You know, I'm an amazing shinobi too"

"Shut up Naruto"

Down in the arena, Kankuro was mentally screaming as Katsu made several handsigns and leaned over, whispering into his ear, making the Suna puppeteer cringe at the voice. It sounded like his mother, long ago before she'd been murdered by his younger brother. Always smiling, tucking him into bed, it made him tear up and cringe as his mother's voice uttered into his ear, "First Degree: Death by Suffocation"

Kankuro found himself gasping for air as he felt hands surrounded his bared throat and start to squeeze, depriving him of the oxygen he sorely needed. Black spots spotted his vision as tears of desperation streaked down his painted face. He feebly twitched his fingers to try to summon his puppet again, but nearly shrieked when he saw the dead wooden face of his own creation strangling him with its powerful wooden joints.

"Die!" it uttered in his mother's voice and strengthened its grip on his soft throat. "_At least…"_ thought the Suna shinobi as he drifted off into the arms of death, his heartbeat ringing his ears, "_I don't have to hear her voice anymore."_

In all reality however, the puppeteer was being carted off in a state of unconsciousness to the infirmary. To the outside world looking into the arena, Kankuro had spasmed in his bonds, his face growing red, his eyes bulging, as he unconsciously deprived himself of air until he'd knocked himself out.

"Winner: Akaito Katsuhiro!"

Katsu himself picked up Kankuro's wooden puppet as well as the antidote to the poison on his strings and handed them over to the emergency medic nin carting him off.

"Well done," said Tomo simply as the honey-haired shinobi rejoined them, reeling in his steel wires around his gloved hands, hitaite firmly over his mouth again. The boy eye smiled and glanced at the screen.

Kakashi's single eye narrowed. No doubt, Tomoaki had trained his students well. They were very much advanced compared to his own team. Yet, they were dangerous; he could sense it, and very much the wild cards in this year's exams. He knew nothing of either of them and Tomoaki had even indicated they were not of Fire Country. His onyx eye then fell on the last of Tomoaki's students, the golden haired boy who had all but seemed like a civilian.

The girl was a force to be reckoned with; her disability never hindered her in the least. The younger boy was a dangerous mystery and perhaps something to be left alone. But the blonde, the blonde was the one who irked him the most. The harmless one, the polite one, yet Kakashi felt the back of his neck prickle.

The next battle, between Sakabu no Gaara and Rock Lee, was a difficult match to watch. Naruto's blue-green eyes narrowed in disgust at the obvious satisfaction the red-headed maniac felt in causing the strangely eye-browed boy pain.

"Winner: Sakabu no Gaara"

As the red-head passed them, nearly everyone inched away, but the Naruto himself never moved as he said politely, calmly, "Did you enjoy that?"

Gaara stopped, but never turned around as the particles of sand surrounding him jitter slightly, like anxious bugs.

"Did you enjoy causing pain and misery?" repeated the Kyuubi Jinchurikki.

"And if I did?" rasped Gaara, his jade colored eyes staring straight ahead, though he was very conscious of the blue-green eyes that bored into his back.

"We are Shinobi. We kill; we fight, but never for pleasure. There should be no revelry in death,"

"As I said, killing is what keeps me alive. It is to prove that I am alive. No one is more important than myself…Kyuubi"

At the utterance of the Demon Fox's name, everyone jumped. Both Tomo and Kakashi's hand slid down to their weapon's pouches as Mana fingered her katana. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. What the hell was going on, what did the Kyuubi have anything to do with this?

Naruto frowned at the name, his almond shaped eyes narrowing into sapphire slits as he stared at the figure in front of him, "Ah," he said, "Of course, to every man, he is the most important. But a shinobi, no matter his job, does not enjoy killing. That is reserved for the weak of mind and heart."

Gaara didn't reply and walked back to his place, relieving the tension that his presence had caused, making Sasuke turn angrily to his teacher, "What the hell was that? Why did the Kyuubi come up in all this? And Shukaku? What the hell?"

Naruto's jaw tightened as he snapped, "Teme, shut up."

Sakura frowned and berated the blonde shinobi for insulting her teammate, but at that insult, Sasuke turned and stared at the blonde shinobi, his gaze deep with nostalgia and loathing. That insult, in that particular tone, made his blood boil.

"Never call me that again!" he hissed, his Sharingan unconsciously activating as his double tomoe started to spin.

Naruto hesitated, as if opening his mouth to respond, but a look came over him and his furrowed face smoothened back into its original pleasant attitude as he proceeded to ignore the Uchiha in favor of the match below between two Hyuuga, making Sasuke bristle like an angry cat.

Naruto only vaguely remembered Hyuga Hinata. She'd been the cute quiet girl with the courage of a mouse back in the academy. He noted with a morose expression as he watched the still cute, still timid-looking girl get battered below by what seemed like her cousin. However he didn't feel anything except pity for the mild looking heiress.

He had never been close to her, only vaguely noticing her in class, and commenting on her odd habits. But even he was not hard hearted enough to think this justifiable, that this was survival of the fittest. The elder boy, Neji, went on and on about fate and truth be told, Naruto only heard a few words. But it was enough.

"You are destined to fail, to always be a disgrace and a failure to the clan!"

"_Destiny"_ thought Naruto, "_What a vague fickle thing it is."_

His blue-green eyes glanced quickly at the Uchiha a few feet away from him. If he had stayed, would he have been like Sasuke? Rash, hard-headed, stubborn, and hot-tempered? A boy still seeped in the naivety that Konoha allowed to blanket the youth? He would have rebelled against his status, probably would have still been determined to become accepted, to be Hokage.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto forced his feelings down and focused back toward the match, watching the girl get pummeled both physically and emotionally by her brutal cousin. The boy, Neji, was not entirely wrong to an extent. If he'd stayed, if he'd remained stuck in narrow-minded Konoha, his fate would have been sealed.

"Neji-niisan, I came into these exams looking to improve myself. So…I will not give up. I cannot…or I risk breaking my promise to myself."

Neji's face contorted into an ugly expression as he rushed toward his barely-standing cousin, his hands raised in the deadly Juken until a tanned hand caught his wrists and a leg twisted itself around his right ankle, twisting him to ground.

Looking up, he saw the blonde contender staring down at him with a strictly neutral expression, his lips in a grimace.

"There is no need to spill anymore blood, Hyuga," hissed Naruto, his hand, though rather small and fragile-looking, holding tight onto the pale large wrist of the Hyuga.

Wrenching himself out of the hold, Neji glared coldly at the intruder, his face displayed the disappointment he felt as Hinata was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, her red-eyed sensei following with a quick glare to the elder Hyuga.

"Fitting, that a failure must be rescued by some unknown fool. Listen here loser, do not try to defy fate for it'll always crush you like it did Hinata-sama," retorted Neji scathingly, his pale gaze looking Naruto up and down in disgust, "You are nothing!"

"You tried to kill her, your own cousin," replied Naruto, his voice not raised nor holding any emotion, "Was I to stay back and watch you murder a defenseless girl?"

"If fate decreed it, it would be her destiny to die by my hand, like the failure of an heir she is," said Neji, turning his back and walking back to his team.

Naruto smiled grimly and replied, low enough so that only the two of them could hear what he uttered, "Fate is a fickle mistress Hyuga. Are you ready to deal with the consequences she deals out with her hand?"

Neji snorted and strode back to his team.

"Winner: Hyuga Neji. Will the last contenders, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto come to the ring!"

"Sweet, about time! We can take this guy, Akamaru," hooted Kiba as he leapt down with ease into the stadium, his faithful ninken following him, yapping.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but his neutral face melted into his polite sunny smile that seemed to irritate just about everyone.

"Last Match: Hajime!"

Kiba immediately crouched down making a single hand sign, "Shikyaku no Jutsu: Down on All Fours Technique!"

His chakra surrounding him, the beast shinobi went down on all fours, his nails and canines elongated as he dashed toward the smiling motionless blonde with amazing speed.

"Why doesn't he move?" yelled Sakura, pointing downward, physically calling out what the majority of the crowd was thinking.

Tomo pursed his lip.

As Kiba came crashing into the blonde, elbow digging deep into the blonde's gut, Naruto grabbed Kiba's shoulders and flipped him sharply onto his back, falling back and cradling his bruised stomach, but still smiling all the same.

Kiba growled, shaking himself off, still on all fours, and started to prowl a bit, circling like a wolf cornering its prey.

Naruto leaned backward on the balls of his feet, lowering himself, his smile fading a bit as his arms came up in elegant figures, his fingers relaxed and his elbows slightly bent, instead of the usual fists, making him look rather harmless.

Kakashi's brow furrowed at the style, his brain working in overdrive. He'd seen that style before. He knew he had…years ago. But where?

He looked over to his self-proclaimed "rival" in his horrid green jumpsuit who nonetheless knew nearly all the signs of the entire 5 nation's multiple fighting styles, but even Maito Gai's face was in a petulant frown, his eyes gazing seriously into the crowd.

"Pathetic, what the hell is that supposed to be loser?" snapped Kiba as he charged again, his claws lengthened as he took several furious swipes at the blonde. In retaliation, the blonde was nimble on his feet and twisted around them, his hands sweeping outward to knock each swipe to the side, eventually grabbing one of the nin user's hands, pulling him forward, and kicking him in the gut, making the cainine shinobi slid on the paved arena a few meters back.

Kakashi watched as no sign realization come to Gai's face and quickly made a hand sign, teleporting over to Gai's side in a poof of smoke, not startling his one remaining student, Hyuga Neji, in the least.

Not averting his eyes from the match, Gai simply said without question, "I recognize some of the moves, yet I cannot remember where. They seem so familiar, the unnatural fluidity, the flawless conversion from offense, to defense, to offense in motion. Like waves of the sea…Where have I seen this before?"

Kakashi racked his mind; he knew he'd heard of that style before…but where? He berated himself mentally. He'd been able to copy over a 1000 jutsu and couldn't remember where he'd seen a single style of taijutsu.

"It is called Tui-La," said a voice behind him, making Kakashi spin around straight into the scarred face of Tomoaki. The sharp-eyedd jonin smirked and pointed at his student below, " It literally translates to Push and Pull. Naruto has yet to master it, but it is the style of his mother's clan from Mizu no Kuni. Apparently they studied the moves of the ocean and evolved it into a style of their own, very hard to master according to Naruto. There is an intense need for balance, peace of mind, patience, he had a lot of trouble with it."

"From Mizu no Kuni you say?" asked Gai, never taking his eyes off the blonde genin below, "Interesting."

Tomo gave a smug little smirk. He felt a tad accomplished that his student was the one who had the really cool style that even Maito Gai didn't recall.

"Akamaru, come here" shouted Kiba as he panted a bit, his middle sore and most probably bruised along with his aching back. Fishing out two small pills, he popped on into his mouth and fed the second to his faithful dog, who immediately, like his name, turned a shocking color of scarlet red.

Naruto looked on with interest, as he leaned back into his former position, his eyes narrowed.

Kiba smirked, "You're going down! Let's do this Akamaru, Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Immediately, Akamaru transformed into a doppelganger of Kiba, both figures growling and crouched on all fours. They immediately started to circle Naruto, closing him in slowly like wolves going in for the prey.

"Taijutsu won't help him anymore," remarked Sakura as she watched the match below, "Kiba is from the Inuzuka clan. His speed will be too much for Uzumaki to do any of his taijutsu. Normally genjutsu would be the answer here, but Kiba's nose will sniff him out. He's dead meat."

Katsu made an odd sound in his throat that sound a bit like a choke and Mana managed to laugh a little, albet mockingly. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the annoying twosome, "What's so funny? What Haruno says is true anyway."

Mana gave Team 7 a crooked smile, showing off white teeth as she replied, "You know that every genin team is designed based on whether or not each genin has something to contribute, learn, and balance the team. Tomo-sensei chose us because we complement each other. We each are specialized in an art which, by itself, is strong, but able to be defeated. The three of us together, however, make up for where the other lacks. I specialize in Taijutsu: I can't manipulate chakra at all…"

At this Sasuke gave a condescending look at the elder girl, but she ignored him straight away.

"I find it a cheating method of true strength. Anyway, I specialize in Taijutsu. Katsu here specializes in genjutsu and traps. So tell me oh-mighty-Uchiha and Miss-Know-it-all Pinkie, what do you think Naruto specializes in?"

"You're done for Blondie," shouted Kiba as both he and his clone made similar handsigns, "Tsuuga no Jutsu!" Both inu-nin immediately spun rapidly until they resembled twin cyclones and dashed toward the blonde genin, making the entire arena shake as smoke and rubble obscured everyone's vision slightly, including both Kibas'

"Suiton: Fuyu Ouja Tsume no Jutsu!"

Both Kiba 1 and 2 realized the shadow from above too late as enormous clawed hands, each half the size of the arena, made of ice crashed into both of them, mercifully pinning both boy and dog into the ground without stabbing through. Akamaru, who had transformed back in the last second, was mostly unscathed, but it was Kiba, with deep gashes on both sides of his ribs from the claws coming down from the sky, that was carted off to the infirmary.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

The blonde, who was still balancing on his large ice appendages, looked unaffected by his victory as he himself helped the medics lift Kiba onto the stretcher, patting Akamaru on the head with a soft smile.

"You've trained your students well Tomoaki," remarked Gai seriously, for once, as his dark eyes stared at the blonde, who looked none worse for wear except a few scratches and some dust on his robe, "That was an impressive display for a genin. He has much chakra…almost too much."

Tomo smiled tightly, "Naruto has abnormally large reserves. And because of that, he cannot perform any sort of genjutsu or ninjutsu below a B-rank. Some may think it a blessing, but Naruto struggles to control his chakra. You could say he is the ticking bomb of my team."

Kakashi gave Tomo a sharp glare at this, but the scarred ninja was already walking back to congratulate his student. "Gai," said the masked jonin, "Tomo's team…they're too advanced. They know dangerous techniques that normal genin shouldn't have mastered. And two of them are not even from Konoha…"

"Indeed Kakashi, Team Tomo…they worry me. They are the wild cards in the Chunin exams this year."

Meanwhile, Sasuke gave the blonde a hateful glare as he was congratulated by his teammates. That technique…it was not some stupid D-ranked jutsu from the Academy. The dobe had resources into powerful techniques that Sasuke couldn't hope to replicate in his state. Him…_weaker_ than an outsider. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Naruto caught the Uchiha's eye and gave him that irritatingly pleasant goofy smile. Sasuke returned it with a venomous stare. He was mocking him!

"Will all the participants who have won their matches please gather in the arena in front of the Hokage," announced Gekko Hayate, holding a plain cardboard box with a hole on the top, "You are to pick a number from inside. Your number will determine who you will face in the final matches."

Sasuke started, " 4."

"7."

"5."

"2."

"8."

"11."

"3."

"9."

"1."

"6."

"10."

After several minutes, Hayate held up the competition sheet, "The matches will be as followed: Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto. 2. Sakabu no Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke. 3. Sakabu no Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru. 4. Kinuta Dosu vs. Yamanaka Ino. The victor of that match will face Sakata Mana. 5. Akaito Katsuhiro vs. Aburame Shino.

The matches will take place one month from now in Konoha Stadium. You all have that month to prepare and train. Know that the damiyos as well as many other viewers will be watching with interest. Honor your villages and I wish you the best of luck. Dismissed!"

=LINE BREAK=

-Outside the arena

Naruto shook his head as both Neji and Gaara gave him the dirtiest looks he'd probably ever gotten in a long time as they stalked off in their general directions. These exams were getting to be testing on his nerves, and the people he had to deal with weren't helping matters.

"Oi dobe!"

Including the one and only Sasuke Uchiha aka the boy who doesn't remember him even though they were the biggest rivals in the Academy. Ah well, neither did anybody it seemed.

"What is it Sasuke-san?" replied Naruto in his most infuriatingly polite voice. Oh he knew very well that the way he acted grated on people's nerves, especially the ones like Uchiha. Not that he wasn't polite in general. No, Naruto was a nice, kind, polite boy but he knew when to overdo it and piss people off.

"Your sensei told me that your team has to meet him at Ichiraku Ramen at 7:00 tonight. He said he had a meeting with the Hokage."

"Thank you Sasuke-san for the information."

Oh lookie, now the Uchiha has a marvelous tick present in his left eye. It was twitching madly and making the rookie of the year look half-mad.

"Can you stop that!"

"Stop what Sasuke-san?"

"I know what you're doing. Your mocking me aren't you dobe? Well we'll see whose smug at the finals!"

Naruto cracked a wider smile, making it very apparent that he was ridiculing the Uchiha, "You can bet on it…_teme._"

Again, Sasuke shot him that god awful glare, "Don't ever call me that name!"

"Why not?"

"Because…just because ok?"

"It seems you've had a bad experience with the name, no? Perhaps you should see a doctor?"

Sasuke refused to dignify the insult with an answer as he strode off, his eye still twitching uncontrollably due to his irritation. The blonde was infuriating, mocking, annoying, incredibly stupid. Yet, the raven-haired genin still couldn't shake the itsy bitsy piece inside him that seemed to nudge that same memory from the back of his head.

"_Will you come back?"_

"_Maybe."_

"_You'd better come back dobe…"_

Sasuke shook his head. The memory was from years ago, before his clan had been massacred and he'd been thrust into the role of an avenger. A tiny memory, insignificant in the grand scheme of his revenge. He musn't form ties, friendship is for those of weak minds and hearts.

Turning back slightly, Sasuke felt a bit of disappointment at the sight of the blonde girlish looking boy gone.

He couldn't deny the desire within him for companionship, the way he saw little children in the Academy chattering away together. He would never have the luxury. Did he ever even have friends? He couldn't remember in the very least.

Friend…what an odd word

Turning back, his pale lips twitched slightly. Perhaps…the blonde wouldn't be so bad…for a friend.

=LINE BREAK=

-The Next Night, Hokage Tower

Smoke curled around the widebrim hat of the Fire Shadow as he contemplated the task before him. His hard brown eyes analyzing the risks of such an endeavor, yet there was no other option. No other way to prevent such a travesty from occurring.

"You are sure of what you heard, Tomoaki," said the Sandaime gravely as he gazed at the scarred jonin in front of him, standing military straight.

"Affirmative Hokage-sama. When you informed me that Yakushi Kabuto voluntarily failed the chunin exams so many times for absolutely no reason, I found it within myself to look through his records. As you said before, he is an unremarkable person. An orphan from the Kikyo Pass Incident. Perhaps the only thing notable is his work in medical jutsu," replied Tomo, his cattish eyes narrowing as he reported his news.

"However," the jonin continued, "I trusted my gut on this one and decided to trail him. Yakushi should not know who I am, so I managed to trail him without much trouble…much to say that your reports on him are rather faulty. The boy…is sharp. He notices things, he snatches up information leaked out by other competitors. I've managed to sneak a look at those cards he holds…too much information for a mere genin."

"I see…and you suspect that the boy is a spy? He could just be a resourceful young man."

"…You know Hokage-sama, I don't usually try to persuade you all too much. But this boy…he makes my skin crawl. And anyone who makes my skin crawl is _not_ a good person."

The Hokage gave a humorless chuckle as he inhaled another breath of tobacco, closing his eyes in deep thought, "You say the boy has gone to the same place every evening for the past three nights. The market down by Tanto's Weapons Shop?"

"Yes, to the same vendor. Buys the same amount of fruit for the same amount of cash. I didn't dare touch the vendor, but I found that every few weeks; the vendor goes to get his wares out of Konoha…in Ta no Kuni. Now normally I wouldn't be too concerned but…"

"Yes, Ta no Kuni is the village where Otogakure is located isn't it? A relatively new village I've heard with conveniently powerful leader. You think Yakushi is a spy for Oto?"

"Not too sure, I don't even think he's a mere spy. I've seen him assessing at the walls surrounding the village. Note the number of jonin in the village. He even has access to medical files, which display nearly every ninja's personal information. I wouldn't be surprised if he has the record of who's going on missions at a time. The boy…He's no ordinary spy. He seems like a scout…looking over the enemy before battle.

"Battle you say Tomo? You imply an attack on Konoha itself. Perhaps you're being a bit too paranoid, no?"

"I don't know…I think I have a plan to find out. But it'll take time. You'll have to be patient, but I assure you I'll get your information."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes as the smell of burning tobacco got stronger. Tomoaki was a strong shinobi, no doubt about it. Despite his handicap in reflex, sight, and stamina, he had persevered into a respectable jonin. But no ninja, no matter how good, was 100% perfectly sure that their plan was going to work.

This alone worried the old man.

"What is your plan then, Tomoaki?"

=LINE BREAK=

A scowl adorned Mana's face as she tried to glare a whole through the piece of paper that had been stuck to the refrigerator of the hotel room she and her team had rented.

_To my sadly childish, yet amazing fuctional team,_

_The Hokage has requested me for a mission which will take a long time, namely most probably this whole month. With that said and done, I know you are perfectly capable of training yourselves for the final exams. Unfortunately, Mana tends slightly unimaginative, Katsu tends to try and drive people insane, and Naruto…well he just isn't trustworthy to train alone. Therefore I have requested a few of my friends and fellow jonin to help you train. Mana, you are to train with Gekko Hayate and Maito Gai. Please do not attempt to wear the green jumpsuit or get sick. Katsu is to train with Yuuhi Kurenai. Considering her only student is training with his clan, she has no problem with training you. And Naruto, you are to work my friend Tenzou. _

_Your training starts two days from now. I have confidence that you will do fine. Please do not attempt to cause trouble._

_Tomoaki_

"Isn't Hayate that procter who looked like he invested in cough medicine a little too much?" stated Naruto, wiping the stray toothpaste from his lips as he glanced at the paper in Mana's hand, "Ha, so if you start coughing, does that mean you've got Gekko-cooties?"

"Shut up…"

"Oh god, isn't Maito Gai the dude with the green jumpsuit and the horrible haircut?"

Kaito gave a nod of confirmation.

"…Shit, you're screwed."

=LINE BREAK=

The town of Komugi was a generally average town. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet if one spoke to the locals, they'd have to say that the number of men, all dark, brawny, and adorned with various weapons, had begun to show up over the years. But they caused no real trouble, so the public generally ignored them.

Therefore, it was no surprise that no one passing through the streets noticed the cloaked man walking steadily through the masses, weaving gently in and out, dragging his feet to the side to obscure his tracts.

The man was tall, perhaps nearly 6 ft. tall, and had a fair amount of muscle. Only adorned in a plain black cloak, complete with an nondescript bamboo hat that shaded his face.

His feet, a ghostly white color, shuffled swiftly into the market, searching for something. The figure stopped in front of the most non-impressive thing: a simple fruit stand.

The vendor was not special in anyway, limp plain figures on a largely circular face and a shorter body. But the cloaked man was sure that he had the right guy. If his informant had been correct, this unimpressive man would be the key inward.

Coming upward, pretending to glance at the apples the vendor sold, the cloaked man whispered with a high breathy sounding voice, "You are Magoro Takeshi, known for his taste in the discreet sounds from all countries?

The vendor, Takeshi, didn't blink an eyelid at the question, his face still streached in the mask of a greasy salesman, but he too murmured, "I am, and if you are a merchant of such interests and are willing to sell and meet those who share your interests, Go to Mt. Sousen 3 miles west of here. I have a friend who is interested in your wares."

Nodding his consent, the cloaked figure left, his lips twitching into a small smile.

Mt. Sousen huh? This would be interesting.

It didn't take long for the simple mountain near the outskirts of the small bustling town to appear. There, only a few people mingled, all wearing dark cloaks, some protruding in odd angled from what seemed like hidden weapons. But the man knew his target. And there was only one figure in white.

Yakushi Kabuto smiled pleasantly at the newcomer, propping his glasses onto the bridge of his nose, "Ah, you are Hirashi Ojiro from Tsuchi no Kuni, are you not? Come, we will leave shortly. The Otokage has expressed an interest in your information and your…talents."

The cloaked man smiled and gave a humble bow, his eyes, narrow like that of a prowling feline, sparked a golden brown before reverting to a mud brown.

He was in.


End file.
